Residents furious about bills
Tembisa residents are up in arms because of what they call the inability of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) to help them to solve billing problems.
Some residents allege that they receive electricity bills even though they have no electricity in their houses.
Ms Elisa Mphahame said she does not know how much she owes the municipality, because she always receives the wrong statement.
“I am surprised that they are sending me large electricity bills even though I use paraffin to cook. I was charged more than R1 000 for water, even though I don’t have tenants. How can I owe such an amount? “she asked
Ms Mphahane said three months ago she received a statement saying she owes R3 500, but on investigating, she was told she only owed R1 500.
“I have visited the municipality on several occasions, but they are not doing anything to help me,” she said. She showed The Tembisan some of her statements from the EMM, which state that she owes R1 500.
“But when I sent my daughter to enquire, she came back with another amount. She brought me another statement saying I am owing R574. I am confused. I don’t know how much I owe the municipality and for what,” she said.
Meanwhile, the divisional head of media relations at the EMM, Mr Mandlakazi Mpahlwa-Sigcawu said, “We can confirm that we will only bill electricity charges on a customer’s bill if they have convectional meters. In cases where there is a pre-paid meter, or in an Eskom-supplied area, or in cases where the customers do not have electricity at all, we do not put any electricity charges on customers’ accounts, as our electricity and water billing is itimised and solely relies on what the meter is registering.”
