A Windmill Park resident is urging community members to keep a close eye on their water and electricity bills, following a meter mix-up.
Daisy van der Merwe, who lives in Frost Street, alleged that she noticed a spike in her water account ever since water meters in their street got replaced in September.
After investigating, the concerned resident then discovered that a mix-up between her and her neighbour’s water meters caused the large amount on her account.
It appears that Daisy’s account was linked to her neighbour’s water meter and vice versa when the metro installed the new meters.
“I became suspicious when I received an enormous bill from the metro stating that I now have to pay over R2 000 while normally paying about R600.
“I realised that it’s impossible that my family could’ve used so much water and compared an account with my old meter number with my latest account. Then I realised that my neighbour’s meter number corresponded with the number that reflected on my bill,” van der Merwe pointed out.
Van der Merwe feels that’s unfair that she has to pay for her neighbour’s water as they have a swimming pool while she doesn’t have one and insisted that she paid both accounts at a stage.
She said that the matter was reported to the metro.
“I informed the municipality about the issue and they sent an inspector to my house to investigate my complaint. “It turns out that my meter wasn’t registered on my account and that I’ve been paying for my neighbour’s bill.
“The inspector saw that my neighbour’s water usage is running on my account and that her water usage is running on my account. He told me they will now switch our accounts.”
The resident said she is upset about the amount they charged her in the interim and would like know how the metro determined that amount without a proper reading.
“I hope that the municipality can shine a light on this issue for us by examining the cause of this mix-up because we don’t have a clue how this happened.”
The Advertiser is still awaiting comment from the metro.
