It is almost 10 times as much as he normally pays for water. According to the owner of Mr Big in Opperman Street, he almost had a heart attack when he saw the municipal account of more than R32000.
He immediate phoned to report the problem to the municipality, since the reading on the meter is well below the reading on his account.
The owner also apparently kept recordings of the water reading every month which is consistently about R3 000. When he reported the case, his plea for the municipality to come and correctly take the water meter readings was turned down.
He is not going down without a fight and has formally written to the accounts department at the municipality refusing the pay the account.
On Monday, June 15 they apparently did promise telephonically that someone would be sent out to take a more accurate reading, however this case is just an old problem rearing its ugly head. In 2013 hundreds of water meters were stolen in an act of vandalism which were eventually replaced with copper-less meters but the aftermath of the incident left people frustrated with high water accounts because they did not have a meter to prove how much water they were using.
“I just want to warn other residents and business owners to check their water meters every month in case this happens to them,” said the owner, who was raised in eMalahleni and lives in Middleburg.
“I immigrated to Middleburg, I didn’t move there,” he added. Many former residents of eMalahleni would agree. However the problem of unusually high accounts is a nationwide issue and can happen for many different reasons.
Lebo Mofokeng a spokesperson for the municipality has been contacted regarding the situation however due to the public holiday no comment was received before going to print.
Have you ever had a sky high water account and how did you have it resolved? Comment below.
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