How to capture your electricity reading with the municipality
To ensure you are being billed correctly for your electricity usage, you can submit your electricity meter reading to the municipality in a few easy steps.
You might not think it necessary because someone is assigned to read your electricity meter once a month, but you'd be surprised how much money you can save just by being more efficient.
In the Durban district of the eThekwini municipality, city workers regularly come knocking to record your electrical meter reading. This has been the case for many years.
However, this method hasn't always worked well due to several reasons. Sometimes, the workers can't access the property, so the billing department will use an average estimate from a previous month's bill to calculate your monthly electricity bill.
There are several ways of submitting your electricity meter reading to the municipality. The most reliable way is to visit your local municipal offices if technology fails.
The city previously encouraged residents to send their electricity meter readings via email or SMS, but the communications platforms have since been updated.
The eThekwini municipality has an online service portal so residents can upload their meter readings online.
"We are committed to continuously improving our services to enhance your interactive experience with the municipality. We are pleased to announce the launch of our Electricity WhatsApp Chatbot Self-Service option for meter reading submissions," reads the Durban.gov website.
While this may not be a new service, not everyone knows it's available.
To record your electricity meter reading, download the eThekwini Municipality mobile app from the Play Store on your Android phone or the App Store on your Apple device. Click here for the steps to use the app.
Note that when submitting your reading here, you will require your E number or electricity reference number and the last four digits of your meter number, which can be found on your bill before the 'S'.
Or you can WhatsApp 'Hi' to 076 791 2449, and a chatbot response service will help you submit your meter reading.
A woman posted a video online explaining why she shares her reading with the municipality. Check the video out on Instagram. She submits her reading using WhatsApp but uses this number: 073 148 3477.
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