Tshwane owes us over R519m, says Rand Water

Rand Water says the Tshwane metro owes it over R519-million in unpaid debt for water.

Water utility spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said the current account for January 31 was R219 986 699.

She said this had prompted the utility to escalate its debt management plan to Tshwane mayor Randall Williams without specifying what such plan was.

“The current bill that is payable on January 31 is R299 932 987, bringing the total account outstanding to R519 919 687,” she said.

She said Tshwane had failed to honour its payments timeously instead making intermittent short payments often months after the due date.

Tshwane had made payment commitment and arrangements agreed during the meetings the utility had with the City.

“The metro, however, does not fully honour the agreed arrangements.”

She said the problem of late or non-payment began in June 2021 and continued to date.

On Thursday, the Tshwane audit performance committee explained in detail to the council the service delivery problems that occasion low water revenue collection.

It said the metro had lost 114 696 732 kilolitres in the 2021/22 financial year.

The committee recommended the metro:

– improve leak repair responsiveness
– reduces water wastage
– install water meters in unmetered houses
– conduct meter audits to improve billing information
– replace meters to improve the accuracy of readings
– restrict supply to delinquent customers

The metro had yet to comment at the time of publication.

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