On the 15th of December 2011, the City consented to the handing down of an order in the South Gauteng High Court.

The order outlines the steps that must be taken by the City prior to it being able to lawfully terminate the supply of electricity or water to a property. The crux of the order is the following:

Firstly, the charges in respect of an account for electricity or water must be based upon regular and accurate readings of the relevant meter. The City is entitled to charge estimated amounts; however these must be reasonably accurate (based on prior actual consumption) and may not be relied upon for a period longer than 6 consecutive months.

Once an actual meter reading is recorded, the account must be adjusted to credit or debit the consumer accordingly (if the City has undercharged you, you will be debited the difference, and if the City has overcharged you, you will be refunded the difference, of what the City has charged you using estimates).

Secondly, the consumer must be provided with a statement of account on a regular basis. This statement must show how the charges have been calculated along with the correct total of how much the consumer is being charged by each municipal entity. The statement must also correctly reflect any credits due to the Consumer and what payments have already been made. The statement of account (and any other notice from the City) must have been delivered or posted to the address selected by the Consumer, failing this, to the relevant property at its street address or emailed or faxed to the consumer. Alternatively the statement of account must be made available to the Consumer on the City’s website.

Thirdly, once the City has sent the statement of account, the consumer must be allowed 14 days in order to make payment on the outstanding account. Should the consumer fail to make payment of the account within this period, the City must then send a notice of demand for payment to the consumer. Only once 14 days has passed from the delivery of the notice of demand and the consumer has failed to make payment on the account may the City then terminate services to the property. Notice of termination of any service to a property must be served to every occupant of that property by the City prior to the termination occurring.

The City is never allowed to terminate the supply of water to a residential property. It may only restrict the supply, as each residential household is entitled to the free supply of 6000 litres of water per month.

Lastly, and most importantly, if a consumer has logged a query with the City with regards to an error relating to charges on an account, the City may not terminate the supply of any service to the property until the City has considered the query and given proper notice to the consumer as to its decision relating to same. The consumer should also be given the opportunity to lodge an appeal within the prescribed time if the consumer does not agree with the City’s decision. This appeal process must be allowed to run its course prior to the City being able to lawfully terminate any services.

**It is very important to note that while the City is considering the query the consumer must continue to make monthly payments to the City of the average of the 3 preceding monthly accounts that are not in dispute.***

If the City has failed to comply with the above, since the handing down of this order on the 15th of December 2011, please email the details to us at notagain@schindlers.co.za.

Click here to download the full order.