New system to regulate utility bills for Msunduzi residents
The Msunduzi Municipality says the introduction of a new automated billing system will end inaccurate or inflated utility bills.
It says there were weaknesses with the old system - one of them was that it could be manually manipulated which translates to corruption.
The municipality's Nelisiwe Ngcobo says this enabled corruption, with some employees colluding with ratepayers and contractors to cheat the system.
"We are sending a message to the contractors as well that are colluding with our customers - that it's going to come to an end now because we are monitoring all the reconnections. The moment that we do a disconnection - there will be a team that will be monitoring all our reconnections," Ngcobo said.
She says ratepayers who've been incorrectly billed can come forward to have this rectified.
"We have increased the capacity in terms of staff that are assisting at the banking hall - that is our front office. We have also created email addresses. They can send it to the municipal manager at the Msunduzi Municipality," she said.