One resident in Steenkamp Street had a problem with his water consumption usage on his water and electricity bill, and always wondered how they did the reading as it’s impossible to see.
At the end of July after many complaints and e-mails the problematic water meter in Steenkamp Street was finally replaced.
The resident who would like to remain anonymous sent numerous e-mails along with photos to the Emalahleni City Council.
After receiving a water and electricity bill with a ridiculous amount of water usage, he decided to start his own investigation.
He went to his water meter and could not read any of the numbers on the meter. From there he went to his neighbour’s water meter which one could see clearly.
The water meter that was fixed six months after reporting it.
On the faulty water meter it’s difficult to read the actual reading, as the cover over the water meter looks sand blasted, there is rust inside it as well so the numbers can hardly be seen.
“Is it 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 or 0.0001? Water is measured in cubic meters. Only when the 0.1 dial does a full rotation will the digital readout click over to add one cubic meter to the digital readout,” said the concerned resident.
This resident is not someone who complains but due to his frustration that the water meter is based on allegations and estimates as they cannot be made based on the dial readouts of this particular meter he had no other choice.
“It’s therefore impossible to get one month’s reading from the meter, possibly a daily reading if less than one cubic meter per day could be read. This could be summed for the month and then you could get an answer which would be 30 cubic meters,” continued the resident.
“It is impossible to bill accurately with a meter you cannot read. If a bill is an estimate it should be endorsed as such,” he concluded.
After the water meter has been replaced he is much happier with his water and electricity bill.
