Doctor bewildered by eThekwini Municipality's R2. 8 million utility bill

IOL News

10-05-2025

A Reservoir Hills doctor received a R2.8 million utility bill from the eThekwini Municipality for April 2025. Dr Terence Govender said his average monthly bill was R8 500.
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A Reservoir Hills doctor has been left perplexed after receiving a R2.8 million utility bill from the eThekwini Municipality for April 2025.
Doctor Terence Govender said his average monthly bill was R8 500 and was left bemused by his latest bill.
For March, Govender was billed R2.7 million in total, which consists of rates R1 820, Water and Sanitation R1 276, and Cleansing and Solid Waste (CSW) R256. He was billed R2.3 million for electricity and R358 311 VAT.
Govender's bill for April totalled R91 000. This included water R1 680, Electricity R55 000, CSW R256, interest on arrears R23 641, VAT R8 636. Govender's total bill for March and April amounted to R2.8 million.
Govender said that after he had complained, an official came to his home and business to take down the readings.
He said all the official said was he would look into it.
"I have never been in arrears; I normally pay extra in some months to stay ahead. Some time ago, the bill came to R20 000, and I just paid it to avoid the long queues and nonsense you hear at call centres in the city. This time around, I will take them to task. On the bill, they also use threats of disconnection if you do not pay," Govender said.
He blamed the municipality for what he called incompetent employees. He said that at first, he was seething with anger and stressed out, but then as the days passed, he began to laugh about it.
Govender said he has generators and inverters at his home, but still pays a high bill. He said there were always prolonged electricity and water supply issues, but residents' bills remained the same monthly.
Last week, he spent R3 500 on diesel to operate the generators during a power outage that lasted more than two days in Reservoir Hills.
"I am not sure where they thumb sucked these figures from. What happens to those unsuspecting pensioners and other residents who are falling into this situation and making plans to pay off amounts like this? They force people to pay first and claim back later. Now they have pushed their luck and gone beyond. We will take them to court," Govender said.
Reservoir Hills Ratepayers Association (RHRA) Director Yogesh Naidoo said, despite alerting the municipality to the problem in April, the RHRA did not receive any feedback.
The RHRA raised the following concerns with the municipality:
The electricity charge alone is R55 639.37 for a residential property, with no commercial operations or unusual usage patterns. The total arrears and monthly charges are unsubstantiated and continue to escalate with no proper reconciliation or supporting breakdown.
Govender has previously attempted to resolve this issue with the Revenue Department without success or response.
Naidoo said that the RHRA demand a comprehensive audit and itemised reconciliation of this account from January 2023 to April 2025.
The RHRA called for: An immediate halt to interest and penalty accruals pending resolution of this dispute.
A formal acknowledgment of this complaint and assignment of a reference number.
Prevention of any termination or suspension of services to properties under Govender's property portfolio.
Naidoo warned that if there was continued inaction, the RHRA would escalate the matter to the office of the Public Protector, the South African Human Rights Commission, National Energy Regulator of South Africa, and the Auditor-General of South Africa because "this is a clear case of administrative failure causing financial prejudice to a compliant ratepayer".
According to the municipality's finance committee revenue management report for April 2025, household debt, which mainly includes individual/residential customer accounts, remains high at R25 billion, contributing to 75% of the total debtors.
For January 2025, the city disconnected 704 electricity and 3 767 customers for water arrears, investigations, and tampering.
The municipality was also concerned about the Suprema and Revenue Management System (RMS), which had not yet materialised, thus resulting in no proper data in place for customers who are part of the 80/20 electricity programme.
The eThekwini finance committee also requested a report on the migration of the RMS and Suprema system at the next meeting.
In January 2025, the city billed 926 282 accounts. In the report, some of the challenges the accounts management section faces were non-completion of monthly billing due to network and technical glitches.
The municipal meter management services department is a combined meter reading for water and electricity, which was integrated into the revenue management unit in October 2024.
The meter reading contract for electricity expired last year. The report stated that the procurement for external meter readers is under way.
Attempts to get a comment from the municipality were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
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