Over 150 water meter readers are set to collect data to ensure the city bills residents appropriately for services rendered instead of taking estimated readings. Picture: STOCK IMAGES
The municipality will roll out over 150 water meter readers to capture data of resident’s water usage.
Previously the City did estimated readings based on the previous months’ consumption readings to bill residents.
The estimated bills often led to residents having discrepancies with the municipality over incorrect billing.
On Thursday, November 23, the eThekwini Municipality announced that more than 150 water meter readers will “hit the ground running” to bolster the water meter reading services in the eThekwini Municipality.
The water meter readers are gearing up to start collecting data, which will enable the City to correctly bill residents for services rendered.
Last week, the City’s Water and Sanitation Unit began its rigorous training exercise for the eight teams, each consisting of 13 members, as well as the retraining of 55 in-house meter readers who will undertake this exercise in the coming weeks.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said this follows the expiration of the old meter reading contract which resulted in the City having to rely on estimated readings to bill residents.
“Accounts were being estimated based on the previous months’ consumption. As soon as all the meter readers have completed training, they will begin taking actual readings. The training for meter readers is estimated to take about two weeks. We anticipate that the actual readings will begin in December, if not sooner,” said Ms Sisilana.
She added that once the actual readings are done, the consumption charges will be adjusted accordingly. Where over billing has occurred, accounts will be on a credit status - if overpayments were done, she said.
The new meter readers have also been trained in the new capturing technology, which will allow the City to not only track the movements of readers, but also take images of the actual readings.
“This will allow us to keep evidence of the readings to avoid disputes. The new advanced platform also allows us to easily find meters through GPS and to ensure that it is captured in a simple, and easy way to read,” Ms Sisilana said.
Residents can also continue to take a picture of their monthly water meter readings and upload it on the eThekwini Mobile App or via eServices at eservices@durban.gov.za for their actual readings to be captured.