High bills still unexplained
“Protesting is the only language they understand! So toi toi!”
HIGHVELD – Residents voiced their outrage about a statement that was made by the Govan Mbeki Municipality after being billed for unfamiliar electricity and water levies.
The article “Govan Mbeki Municipal residents complain over high municipality bills”, had 109 shares on the Echo/Ridge Times Facebook page and over 40 comments at the time of going to press on Tuesday.
In the article, Mr Bheki Kubheka, acting head of Marketing and Communication of the municipality, said the Water Research Levy was implemented for the purpose of recovering the costs of water resource management in each water management authority in the country.
“The Water Research Levy is charged by the Water Board (Rand Water) on bulk purchases made by the municipality and the cost charged by Rand Water to the municipality is transferred to the bill of the consumers based on the fact that water meters supplied to consumers remain the property of the municipality.
“This amount is added to assist in refurbishing the ageing infrastructure of portable water material and replacing old pipes.
“The council bears the costs of replacing faulty water meters.
“The change in the Electricity Fee Charges (Electricity Meter Rental) to (Electricity Network Charge) was a result of incorrect naming on the Financial Management System and thus the correction.
“This fee (electricity network charge) is charged by the energy producer Eskom and as a result the cost is transferred to the consumers for the service.”
Residents said after enquiring from the municipality about impossible water and electricity readings, they were told it was not the municipality’s problem.
Some were apparently told that the high charges were due to old debt.
One resident claims he tracks his household’s water usage, but was charged for water which they did not use and resulted in a bill of nearly R7 000 for the month.
Others said the municipality is stealing from them and are referring to it as “daylight robbery”. These residents are now threatening to protest.
Mr GL Botha asked in a letter whether the budget for the levies was approved by the National Treasury Department.
“If not, the municipality cannot bill residents for the levies.”
He asked that Mr Kubheka explain the purpose of basic services levies.
“The purpose of these levies is exactly for the replacement of old services,” Mr Botha wrote.
The municipality could not comment before going to press.
