kougademocrat

Residents and ratepayers whose water and electricity usage was incorrectly estimated on their latest municipal accounts need not panic – it will be corrected.

This is the assurance from Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, after several residents and businesses reported that their latest municipal accounts showed a sharp increase in their water or electricity usage.

Hendricks said the errors were mainly due to the municipality having to rely on reading estimates during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“During the first five weeks of the lockdown, no physical readings could be taken of water meters or conventional electricity meters.

“Since the easing of the restrictions, readings have still not been able to resume in certain areas because of staff either testing positive for the coronavirus or having to self-quarantine after exposure to infected persons.

“As a result, estimates have had to be used and, in some instances, the estimates were either incorrectly calculated or captured.”

He said residents and businesses whose water and electricity usage was higher than usual could contact the municipality’s revenue section for the necessary corrections to be made.

Senior accountant, Wilma le Roux, has been designated to assist those affected. She can be contacted at wleroux@kouga.gov.za. Account-holders are asked to include their account number so as to enable swift assistance.

“We would like to apologise to all those who were affected by the billing errors. It will be corrected and the affected accounts adjusted accordingly,” he assured.