Week after week the readers of Caxton local rags write in to the editors to lament about the abuse of CoJ and it's representatives on the inhabitants of the City of Johannesburg.
The problem appears to be exasperated by CITY POWER not Eskom alone. City Power's pricing is a minefield to work through.
Willem Malherbe, delightfully likens treatment of CoJ inhabitants who are expected to accept and pay as follows, imagine:
"Buy a new car and it is only 60% operational...thank you very much here is your money (to the dealer).
Take a car for a service and only 60% of the job is done, but you pay with a smile.
Buy R1 000 groceries and take only 60% of the items home with you.
Buy a R100 petrol and the attendant only places R60 in your tank. (p.s. beware of the petrol attendant scam that IS taking place in the west rand. Check that the pump is on ZERO before the attendant starts!)
Order a restaurant meal and the waiter only arrives with 60% of the food ordered."
Upset from Roodepoort's humorous account on the query regarding the R226 monthly service charge on bill was met with:
"you pay R226 for external people to read your meter and to send your bill. The R29 is for future projects.
What future projects?
"No sir, we don't know."
Is fraud on of your future projects?
"I don't know Sir."
Pieter Groenewald "Dit help nie om getroue betalers te straf vir die verbruikers wat dit wel kan bekostig maar nie betaal nie"
and
"45% verhoging per jaar deur Eskom absurd. Somige besighede sal dit nie kan bekostig nie en dit sal werksverliese tot gevolg hè."
Journalist Adriaan Roets' article states: "electricity consumer whose monthly bill is now R 1 000, will be paying over R3 000 by March 2013. It's more than a 200 percent increase."
However, this does not take into account the middleman we all know and love CITY POWER, who do NOT appear to have to request NERSA approval to charge the electricity user and price they wish. What exactly is the value that City Power adds to users of ESKOM electricity.
Pieter Labuschagne places it all in prospective as a user of City Power's prepaid electricity meter. "The following statistics came to light:
~ cost of units purchased July 2007-June 2008 = 43 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT
~ cost of units purchased July 2008-June 2009 = 68 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT (58% inc)
~ cost of units purchased July 2009 to date = 81 cents per kwh/unit excl VAT (19% inc)
It is proclaimed that we pay around 33 cents per KWH. With the proposed increased of 45% from 2010 to 2013, citizens will be paying around 88 centrs per kwh/unit.
I am NOW paying 81 cents per kwh/unit! Are prepaid customers being discriminated against?"
This is not the 1st complaint I have come across regarding City Powers lack of transparency regarding their pricing SEE What is going on at City Power. I am not sure whether Pieter's calculations include or exclude the famous Demand Side Management DSM levy.
Mike Moriarty DA Spokesman warns "I have been informed that the long-awaited Programme Phakama is about to be launched as a pilot in the Roodepoort area. This programme is supposed to resolve Johannesburg Billing System, which has been problematic for over a decade. This despite several failed attempts to fix it. I have no confidence in the council's ability to roll out a new computer system without mistakes of the largest kind. Please watch your municipal bills closely over the the next few months. Billing errors will come. I hope the council will prove me wrong."
Showing posts with label joburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joburg. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Letter to Caxton Paper by Councillor Rae Baur Sept 4, 2009
A rather amazing phenomenon, when it comes to electricity or water cut-offs for late payments to the cities' billing departments, is how often they occur on a late Friday afternoon. This almost predictable occurrence of cut-offs is sure to coincide with the departure of officials for the weekend away from their desks and precludes the affected parties from having their electricity or water reconnected for a few days at least.
Often notices of the proposed cut-offs do not happen, so persons are unable to get their payments made to prevent not only an inconvenience, but if anyone affected is on life-support necessitating uninterrupted electricity supply their very lives are at risk be they elderly, tiny babies or persons with serious medical conditions.
At the bottom of each statement for service delivery from entities such as City Power and Joburg Water there is a fine line, small-print notice that states that the City "MAY" inform its customers of intended disconnections.
Even if an account is less than 30 days overdue, persons have received letters of "Final Demand:, I being one of them!
This certainly does not generate goodwill amongst the paying customers that the City depends upon, especially in the light of the R11 billion in unpaid debts for services that the City had to write off in two years recently.
Accountability in the office of those keeping track of defaulters allowed this situation to escalate to the point where businesses and individuals owed the City for their electricity and water hundreds of thousands of rands which finally were irrecoverable, with no timeous cut-offs, one may add.
It appears that the steady, reliable homeowners in the suburbs are the targets of instant cash recovery with an added bonus of "disconnection" and "reconnection" charges of around R1300 per cut-off, apparently paid to the "Contractors" who do this rather mean job.
Generally, homeowners or residents do not even get to see the aforementioned "Contractor" and the charge for this dubious service merely appears on the next monthly service statement.
To dispute this added cost to the monthly account falls ultimately on deaf ears.
What is of obvious concern is that for each disconnection or reconnection there is a charge which a "Contractor" garners and questions or corruption could easily fly around.
The more disconnections/reconnection's carried out, the More the "Contractor" will receive.
One need not be a rocket scientist to work out the economic benefits to "Contractors" and the economic burden placed o the "Customer"
These "Contractors" are appearing to be like "bounty hunters" and the hunted are the ordinary citizens delivered by the City to the residents.
It is high time that persons passing on the names of customers targeted for cut-offs to "Contractors" come under scrutiny. Responsible decisions, proper business ethic, and integrity are necessary when it comes to debt recovery in a concern as large as the City of Johannesburg's billing department.
Naturally, if the customer receives delivery of water and electricity based on a flat rate payment of about R75 per month, then there will be no cut-offs, irrespective if the consumption is ten times that for which was paid, and that the several shacks in the back of the house are also drawing off water and electricity at an equivalent level to say the least, from the one source.
This disconnection/reconnection fee is seen as punitive and certainly excessive. No one has broken the law by having a late payment or an arrears account due to a dispute with the billing department of the City regarding either water or electricity consumption. Cases regarding the activities of the City have been taken to court and the customers have won cases based on an outcome that is illegal to cut off services in the way mentioned above.
Often notices of the proposed cut-offs do not happen, so persons are unable to get their payments made to prevent not only an inconvenience, but if anyone affected is on life-support necessitating uninterrupted electricity supply their very lives are at risk be they elderly, tiny babies or persons with serious medical conditions.
At the bottom of each statement for service delivery from entities such as City Power and Joburg Water there is a fine line, small-print notice that states that the City "MAY" inform its customers of intended disconnections.
Even if an account is less than 30 days overdue, persons have received letters of "Final Demand:, I being one of them!
This certainly does not generate goodwill amongst the paying customers that the City depends upon, especially in the light of the R11 billion in unpaid debts for services that the City had to write off in two years recently.
Accountability in the office of those keeping track of defaulters allowed this situation to escalate to the point where businesses and individuals owed the City for their electricity and water hundreds of thousands of rands which finally were irrecoverable, with no timeous cut-offs, one may add.
It appears that the steady, reliable homeowners in the suburbs are the targets of instant cash recovery with an added bonus of "disconnection" and "reconnection" charges of around R1300 per cut-off, apparently paid to the "Contractors" who do this rather mean job.
Generally, homeowners or residents do not even get to see the aforementioned "Contractor" and the charge for this dubious service merely appears on the next monthly service statement.
To dispute this added cost to the monthly account falls ultimately on deaf ears.
What is of obvious concern is that for each disconnection or reconnection there is a charge which a "Contractor" garners and questions or corruption could easily fly around.
The more disconnections/reconnection's carried out, the More the "Contractor" will receive.
One need not be a rocket scientist to work out the economic benefits to "Contractors" and the economic burden placed o the "Customer"
These "Contractors" are appearing to be like "bounty hunters" and the hunted are the ordinary citizens delivered by the City to the residents.
It is high time that persons passing on the names of customers targeted for cut-offs to "Contractors" come under scrutiny. Responsible decisions, proper business ethic, and integrity are necessary when it comes to debt recovery in a concern as large as the City of Johannesburg's billing department.
Naturally, if the customer receives delivery of water and electricity based on a flat rate payment of about R75 per month, then there will be no cut-offs, irrespective if the consumption is ten times that for which was paid, and that the several shacks in the back of the house are also drawing off water and electricity at an equivalent level to say the least, from the one source.
This disconnection/reconnection fee is seen as punitive and certainly excessive. No one has broken the law by having a late payment or an arrears account due to a dispute with the billing department of the City regarding either water or electricity consumption. Cases regarding the activities of the City have been taken to court and the customers have won cases based on an outcome that is illegal to cut off services in the way mentioned above.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Are you tired of local government taking you for a ride??
Click through to see what a professional approach to problem solving can achieve:
http://joburgratesboycott.blogspot.com/
Are you willing to sign the petition?
Would you be willing to participate in a class action?
Or would you rather bitch about the state of affairs around the water cooler or braai.
Take action with a group of SOLUTION ORIENTED rate payers.
http://joburgratesboycott.blogspot.com/
http://joburgratesboycott.blogspot.com/
Are you willing to sign the petition?
Would you be willing to participate in a class action?
Or would you rather bitch about the state of affairs around the water cooler or braai.
Take action with a group of SOLUTION ORIENTED rate payers.
http://joburgratesboycott.blogspot.com/
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