Residents must manage their finances
The Metro cannot be held responsible of when clients are paid their salaries, and expects individuals to manage their finances.
ALBERTON – The RECORD received numerous complaints about final notices for EMM accounts not paid on the due dates and because of the fact that all areas in Alberton don’t have the same due dates for accounts.
On such complaint is published below with the Metro’s comment explaining the situation and stating that it is expected of residents to manage their finances to ensure they can pay on dates as stipulated.
My Ekurhuleni invoice, which I had to find and print myself due to the post not being delivered shows an amount payable on November 25.
Two days later on November 27, EMM issued and charged me with a final notice because I have not made payment as yet. Don’t they know most people gets paid at the end of the month and can only pay their accounts on the first working day of the month?
In my almost 10 years of owning a house I have never missed one payment and now they want to issue and charge me with a final notice! This is ridiculous. What is going on? Are they working on their bonuses or what?
You can’t phone them to complain because they do not answer their phones. The final notice charge is not a big amount, only R92.34, but if they charge this R92.34 to 1 000 people and everybody just pays it because it’s a small amount, it adds up and they score big time.
I think it is totally ridiculous and unfair of them to expect one to pay the invoice strictly on November 25, considering most people gets paid on the last day of the month. What is our rights and what can be done about this?
Comment:
In light of the above, the RECORD asked for more details about the process and it was explained as follows:
In the past, and this is many years ago, all accounts for the municipality for Alberton was due for payment on the 15th of every month. In the mid 2000’s this was moved to various times in the month to accommodate meter reading dates, which pairs with billing of account dates and leads to a due date.
Here is the full list of Due Dates for each area in Alberton.
20th of every month
Alberton North, Florentia, Verwoerdpark, Southcrest, New Redruth, Elandfontein and New Market Park. All businesses in the whole Alberton area.
25th of every month
Brackenhurst, Mayberry Park, Southdowns and Albertsdal, as well as areas around Meyersdal, including Randhart, Raceview,Alberante,General Alberts Park and Bassonia Rock.
30th of every month
Brackendowns
5th of every month
Eden Park and Thokoza
In the past, concession was given to residents to run final notices almost a week later in some areas in Alberton. However the Metro needs to fall back to issue warnings just after due dates, as certain residents have become accustomed to making payments after the due dates and ignored their actual due dates. Hence going forward the Metro will be issuing final warning three to four days after each areas due date. This is no different to any other notification for payment that will be received by a client from a retail store if their account is not paid by the actual due date.
The Metro cannot be held responsible of when clients are paid their salaries, and thus it is expected that each individual will have to manage their own finances to ensure that they have money available to pay the account when it is due. This is supported by the fact that the residents of Alberton prior to the mid 2000’s had to manage their finances to accommodate for a due date in the middle of the month. The only advice that can be offered is that accounts due in December, should be paid with November’s salary. Consumers must always bear in mind that like with any organisation, amounts paid for the month is for prior usage and in the case of the municipality, it is for usage that was done four to six prior to the due date.
Again cognizance must be taken into account that the due dates are staggered to accommodate for processes that lead up to the final bill that the consumer receives.
It is for this reason that due dates cannot be moved to accommodate when residents are paid. However, the only concession that is made, is for pensioners. This owing to the fact that they receive their pensions from the first of the new month. The Metro encourages all pensioners to produce their necessary pension cards at the nearest Finance Offices to have their due date moved.
Other interventions made by the Metro over the years have to also be taken into account, which will assist the consumer in managing their accounts. Consumers are encouraged to register on www.e-siyakhokha.gov.za to manage their account. This facility affords the consumer the opportunity of receiving an SMS or email to inform them that their account has been billed and is available for viewing and payment.
Another intervention is that consumers are encouraged to update their details at any Finance Office, and by providing their mobile number to the Metro, a SMS will be sent to them giving them their balance owing when their account is billed.
