VIDEO: Strike blamed for inflated bills

Estimates up to three times average rate

A TWO-month strike has seen hundreds of municipal accounts inflated, with Nelson Mandela Bay residents coughing up more for estimated meter readings.

In some cases, residents have been charged three times their average consumption.

Electricity and water meter readers went on strike in March and April due to salary and terms of employment issues.

The Herald has received hundreds of complaints about the chaotic billing since the strike started.

Gavin Smit, 30, of Despatch, said his water account has been sky high for the past three months.

“My water reading is ridiculous. Before it was less than R300 a month but now it’s anywhere between R800 and R900.”

Smit said he had complained to the municipality but never had a decent answer.

“Nowhere on my account does it say why no one is reading my meter. No one can tell me,” he said.

Glen Hurd resident Candis Risseeuw, 27, said they have not seen a meter reader since February with her account tripling since March.

Prior to the strike, her account was about R1 000 a month but it has now jumped to R3 000 for the past two months.

Esme Pretorius, 64, said she seldom left her Rowallan Park home during the day.

But her water and electricity reading had been estimated for the last three months, with the bill saying no one was home.

“The last normal account I received was in February and it was in the region of R1 000. Since then, it has almost doubled to R1 900 when they did an estimate,” she said.

Emily Abrahams, 64, of Schauderville, is also always at home but keeps receiving estimates.

“My bill jumped from below R1 000 a month to R1 500, because my electricity was estimated way too high. If I have to pay this account I can’t even put food on my table. That is my whole pension,” she said.

Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said inflated municipal accounts were common but only affected a small portion of residents.

“It still remains a small percentage of the total readings which are correct,” he said.

“The companies contracted by the municipality had problems of salary and terms of employment with their employees. The problems have since been sorted out.”

Mniki said estimates were based on previous consumption, taking into account the winter and summer factor.

He said there was no timeframe for logging a complaint, but urged residents to do so as soon as possible.

At least three companies are contracted to the municipality to carry out meter readings.

They are Lelethu Meter Management, Liyabona Meter Management and Shiro Electrical Management.

All three failed to respond to questions. Mniki did not respond to questions about how many companies carried out the meter readings or the cost involved.

He said normal readings would be done in future.

But it is believed the municipality regularly relies on estimates instead of a proper monthly inspection.

Nelson Mandela Bay Ratepayers’ Association chairman Kobus Gerber said his office had been inundated with complaints long before the strike started.

“Somewhere there has to be a logistical problem.

“We have received tons of letters and e-mails from residents complaining about their municipal accounts.

“This is a continuous problem that needs to be addressed urgently.”

In NU7, most Mpenzu Street residents had not seen a meter reader for months.

Laura Ndlazilwana, 59, who lives in the Motherwell street, said her meter was last read in July last year.

She said her bill always states that no one was home.

“Maybe there was no one at my house once or twice, but every month since July?”

A number of councillors have been dealing with billing bungles for years, with the issues never fully resolved.

UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani said: “Outsourcing opens the municipality up to corruption.

“The processes followed are incorrect and lead to strikes and these inflated accounts.”

DA councillor Retief Odendaal said the party’s ward offices received daily complaints about incorrect municipal accounts.

He urged consumers to contact their ward councillors.

It was the only way to see the true extent of the problem, he said.

ANC regional task team campaigns and organising head Thobile Mhlahlo said he was not aware of the problem, but would investigate if such complaints came to their attention.