Ratepayers took to Facebook to express their devastation and frustration at the abnormal increase in the local municipality’s utility bills.
Judging by the comments, the monthly amounts due began to rise on 1 July, the start of the new financial year. For some residents, however, the rates have been increasing for the past two months.
Johan Zerwick, the councillor for ward 4, indicated that his utility bill for June was R2,562. In July, it increased to R4,494 and a staggering R6,302 in August. Between June and July, an amount of R1,932.05 was added to his balance and another R1,808.33 for August. He makes sure the bill is paid in full every month to avoid the electricity being cut off. Zerwick says the realisation of the drastic high increase was shocking and scary. “I was even afraid to break the news to my wife. I wonder how people like pensioners are going to cope.”
Mpho Lebona from Extension 11 says he was devastated when he saw the abnormal increase when he bought electricity two months ago. “I thought it would be less the following month, but it stayed the same,” he said. He also noticed that several people had also started complaining about their utility bills. Before the increase, Mpho used to pay R600 to R700 per month, including his rent. Since June, he has been paying a minimum of R1,387.23 and would sometimes have to pay more for electricity.
A 42-year-old woman from Tuscany Ridge says she would pay a monthly amount of R2,400–R2,800 for her utility rates before June. At the beginning of May, her bill increased to R3,300. She thought it was reasonable as they had spent more time indoors due to the lockdown. Then, the amount due on 10 July again increased to R4,160.12. “I thought they might have taken accurate meter readings after lockdown and had just done estimates for the previous months,” she said.
She assumed that things would be back to normal after that, but her next bill increased to R4,950.12. “I was dumbstruck. How was this possible? We are more careful about our electricity consumption in winter and use more gas,” she said. The woman says having to spend so much on their utility bill alone can make a person feel like their hands have been cut off. William Maphosa confirms that there had been an increase in rates for the new financial year that commenced on 1 July. However, they should only have increased by six percent. “It is difficult to comment definitively on individual accounts as the peculiarities or circumstances differ. However, we admit that there may be cases where the billing may not be accurate,” he said.
The first reason could be the result of the new financial year. Another reason for abnormally high utility bills may be the lockdown period. “Some readings may have been estimated, based on the previous account history. However, even in the latter case, the figure billed would not have been above the averages of previous months,” said Maphosa. He added that the lockdown has also resulted in the printed account statements being delayed. “Our revenue offices have been closed and reopened on multiple occasions due to the number of Covid-19 cases,” he said.
He advised the public to go to the revenue section, contact the offices on 018 299 5185 or approach the finance directorate if their rates are abnormally high. 
