Ethekwini residents' persistent complaining about the complexity of the eThekwini bill led to a decision by the Revenue Management Unit (RMU) Senior Management to make it more customer-friendly and easy to understand.
In a report on billing for the month-end November 2024 brought before eThekwini council on Thursday, it stated that the implementation date was set for November 2024, but due to minor challenges, this had to be postponed to December 1, 2024. The RMU stated that testing was done mid-November in a testing environment just to ensure there are no errors and all issues are fine-tuned and finalised.
The RMU stated that the process was finalised and the Unit went live on December 1, 2024, with a new, customer-friendly, simplified bill.
Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) leader councillor Patrick Pillay said the report gives a reasonable perspective on the billings for these months. Pillay said the Chief Financial Officer and his team must be complimented for this report. Pillay said the major concern for the DLC are the high estimated costs for the electricity and water charges in thousands of residents' billing.
“On a daily basis I have to deal with residents' bills that are estimated for electricity, sometimes for over six to nine months. Recently a pensioners bill was only read after 15 months. These are the many challenges faced by the community in terms of their billing,” Pillay said.
Pillay added that in some cases, after a resident has made an arrangement to pay off their arrear debts, the following month, they are slapped with a six to eight months of actual electricity meter readings that makes their payment for the month absolutely unaffordable.
"The pensioner goes back into arrears and the Acknowledgement of Debt (AOD) subsequently cancels. It would be very interesting to get data on the number of drop calls by the call centers. Many residents have complained that when they get through the call centre, their calls are dropped, making it very difficult for the community to register a complaint through the call centre,” Pillay said.
Ethekwini Councillor and IFP member Jonathan Annipen said the change of the billing format has made it easier for residents to understand their billing and charges. Annipen said the IFP has serious reservations and concerns regarding the valuation roll.
"It has been discovered that there is a rhyme or reason with which property values are increased. In many instances properties right next to each other are valued with huge disparities based on property size, aesthetics. The challenges with the South African Post Office have impacted greatly on customers receiving bills. The Sizakala centres often do not have paper, are offline, and cannot print bills, especially for the elderly," Annipen stated.