Davies Court for the elderly in Secunda gets R50m electricity bill
Municipality said they did not send bills.
Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) is not aware of the two electricity bills of nearly R50m for August that were sent to Davies Court. Davies Court, a low-cost housing for pensioners, belongs to Govan Mbeki Municipality.
These bills read: “It has come to our attention that your municipal services account was not paid by the due date. This is a final request for payment of the outstanding balance at the municipal finance offices.
“Please react to this request within seven days by either paying at the municipality cashiers or by contacting the finance department to discuss the matter.
“Please be advised that you have the option to make payment arrangements to settle the outstanding balance by the municipality’s current credit control policy.
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“If you fail to comply with the above, the Govan Mbeki Municipality will regrettably be obliged to disconnect/restrict services to your premises and to debit the relevant charges against your account.”
The Ridge Times asked the spokesperson of GMM, Donald Green, about the bill and if the municipality pays itself for electricity as Davies Court belongs to the municipality, but Green said the municipality never sent out such bills to Davies Court.
“The property belongs to the municipality and it does not owe the amount stated,” said Green.
“Tenants of Davies Court are billed individually according to a flat rate (reduced amount) for their electricity consumption monthly since they do not have individual meters.
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“This is part of their monthly invoices.”
When asked who is responsible for the bill of Davies Court’s electricity, Green said individual tenants are each responsible for their own bill.
“All municipal offices, where these offices are used by the municipality itself, are metered, billed and paid for by the municipality.”
Since the municipality is not aware of the electricity bills sent from their offices, it is difficult to determine whether this is money that the individual residents at Davies Court owe or if the municipality sent these bills mistakenly.
