DEAR Editor,
I have been querying my Ugu water account since December 2014 when the statement reflected that the amount due for that month was R107 021.54! I visited the offices and was told it would be investigated, but I should continue paying my monthly account and after the investigation ‘someone’ would get back to me. It is now February 2016 and no one got back to me regarding this matter.
Throughout 2014, our water account never exceeded R1 000 (even with a swimming pool): January – R755.54; February – R375.76; March – R720.28; April – R375.00; May – R28.94; June – R684.59; July – R813.97; August – R759.82; September – R759.30; October – R759.82; November – R759.31, and December – R107 021.54 (?)
I thought the December amount was a typing error! When I queried this with Customer Services they assured me that the mistake would be rectified after the investigation, but instead the amount due continued to increase each month. I also stated that my mother (who died in August 2015) was the only one living at the holiday house for a short while.
There was no was way that a 65-year-old pensioner could use that much water! And it is three-bedroomed house, not a factory or a hotel! After querying the amounts, I was also told that it would be investigated because there was several pipe bursts during December. My house is located next to the water reservoir in Glenmore, Leisure Bay.
From January to July in 2015, we reported several more burst pipes and water running down the street from the reservoir. We were sometimes left for days without water and forced to boil the water from the pool for drinking purposes.
But the amounts due on the account have since gone from less than R1 000 during 2014 to thousands every month during 2015. After my mother died there was no one on the property! Now, in February 2016 (a year and two months after my initial query), they have turned the water off without any prior notice!
DESPAIRING
Glenmore
