Mixed emotions at City’s Revenue Open Day

11 August 2015

 

There were mixed outcomes for more than 300 Johannesburg ratepayers at the City of Johannesburg’s Revenue Open Day at the Lenasia Civic Centre in Region G on Saturday August 8.

 

Saren Janse van Rensburg, a consultant who represented a number of Electricity Savings Solutions’ clients – mostly from Orange Grove and Roodepoort – left the centre in high spirits after she had had their complaints satisfactorily resolved. One of her clients was said to owe the City R19 000. The matter was finally resolved at the Open Day following a four-month battle. Further good news was that her client’s account would now be credited with R2 000 after she had been incorrectly billed.

 

Another of her clients had her R56 000 arrears reduced to R14 000. The resident was advised to pay the arrears over six months. Her third client was promised a R6 000 refund after a three-year battle. But V Padiachy, a Zakariyya Park pensioner, was disappointed after being told he had to pay the R39 700 he owed – arrears he had accumulated over several years. This was after City officials could not find any discrepancies in his billing.

 

Padiachy said he had been to the City’s Group Finance Revenue Shared Services Centre in Jorrisen Street, Braamfontein, on several occasions with no luck. He had hoped the Open Day would resolve the billing puzzle. Padiachy said as a pensioner there was no way he could afford to pay such an “exorbitant amount”.

 

He said he could afford R300 a month, meaning it would take him over five years to cover the current arrears. This, he said, meant he would never get out of the debt as he would be accumulating new arrears at the same time. Padiachy was adamant he did not owe the City such “a big sum” as he shared the house with his wife and they did not have electrical gadgets that used too much electricity to justify the “high” bill.

 

Open Days, which are held on Saturdays once a month, are forums at which ratepayers could have their billing complaints or concerns resolved or at least escalated so they could be investigated. They mainly cater for residents who are unable to visit the City’s walk-in centres on weekdays or have received no joy from Jorrisen Street. Complaints and concerns range from electricity cut-offs and water leaks to incorrect meter readings and exorbitant bills.

 

According to Arthur Mbobo, the City’s Deputy Director of Customer Service Centres, officials strive to resolve most of the problems on the spot unless they need to be further investigated. “We don’t wait for two weeks or a month. We do it right here in the presence of the customer,” he said.

 

Mbobo said City officials were able to resolve about 89% of queries on Saturday. He said most of the problems encountered by Region G ratepayers were related to affordability.

 

“We refer them to our desk and, where possible, extend our social packages. Most of them are pensioners and battle to keep up with the payments. Most complaints are power- and water-related. In extreme cases, we send our field inspectors to customers’ residences to resolve the problems,” he said.

 

Mbobo said the majority of customers preferred prepaid electricity. City Power helped them convert to prepaid metres for free.