Delays in receiving utility bills is causing frustrations among Phoenix residents who have reached out to the Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) for assistance in taking the eThekwini Municipality to task regarding the inconvenience caused.
DLC leader, Councillor Patrick Pillay said residents are frustrated and called his offices seeking assistance in the matter. He said: “Many residents have expressed that when they go to the Sizakala offices for a print out of their utility bills they are often told that the system is offline, given a written amount owed and turned away. The non delivery of bills by the City should not be seen as a petty matter because many residents, especially pensioners, see this as a fairly serious problem.”
Pillay said rampant inflation coupled with fuel and utility costs have forced people to tighten their budgets and therefore not knowing how much to pay for their monthly utility bill is a huge worrying factor. “Furthermore, if water leakages or an error in the bill goes undetected, it will prejudice the customer against the these anomalies. As a result of the delay in postage, one such customer Hassan Mohammed had received a huge amount written on a slip without an explanation and reason for the high cost,” said Pillay.
He said the resident was stressed and concerned about being disconnected and approached the DLC offices for assistance. “We have requested a copy account and discovered that he was erroneously charged for water. The resident was assisted and the matter will be resolved accordingly. I will be calling on the city manager to investigate the non delivery of bills to customers and the inefficiencies of the post office due to the delayed postage. While technology has emerged as an effective way for the municipality to encourage consumers to sign up for online billing through the e-services, network, most pensioners do not have access to the internet and have to rely on the bills that they receive in the post,” added Pillay.
The eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said: “Utility bills can be accessed in numerous ways, not just by visiting the Sizakala centres. One option is via mail. However, residents who are having trouble receiving their bills via mail are encouraged to register to receive their bills via email or access them through our website by using the following link: https://eservices.durban.gov.za/v2/ in order to avoid standing in queues at the centres.”
