Bulawayo water bills irony

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

IRONY! Bulawayo residents continue to receive soaring water bills despite enduring days without a drop of water due to the city’s stringent 120-hour water shedding schedule, which at times can stretch to over a week.

The city is enduring one of its worst water shortage years in recent times which has resulted in the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) having to introduce a 120-hour water shedding schedule, which they sometimes abandon due to the dwindling levels in their reservoirs.

Residents have questioned why they continue receiving high water bills from the local authority despite its unavailability.

They alleged that their water bills have quadrupled in recent months despite the intermittent supply.

To add insult to injury, the local authority has embarked on a water disconnection blitz to recover millions owed to them in unpaid bills.

The local authority has however, pointed the blame on the residents saying in some cases they were non-payments or paying lower than billed amounts leading to the accumulation of debt.

Responding to written questions, BCC corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said while they acknowledged abnormal water bills, mainly caused by water consumption, from July 2021 because of council’s inability to read meters between February 2020 and June 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, staff constraints and transport shortages, the local authority began regular reading of meters in June 2021, leading to lumping of consumption in one month in instances where consumption was being underestimated.

“There are a number of reasons why residents perceive council bills as being high. For example, large land area in residential areas leads to rates bills that are higher than the normal bills for some properties in the same area. Consumers in this category have been made aware of the current policy on levying rates.

“Further, there is the overuse of water that is consumption above the allocations of 450 litres per day for high density and 650 litres per day for low density. Such consumption attracts billing on higher tariff bands and penalties,” said Mrs Mpofu.

She said bills that were affected by the inability to read meters during the Covid-19 era had been adjusted based on the normal consumption derived from regular readings of meters. However, she said, some properties have not been read due to the inaccessibility of the meters.

In terms of the pricing formula, the council spokesperson noted that the first five kilolitres a month were for free, 5 to 14 kilolitres; US$1,22 per kilolitre, 14 to 25 kilolitres; US$1,63 per kilolitre, 25 to 27 kilolitres; US$2,45 per kilolitre, for consumption above 27 kilolitres the local authority charges US$3,92 per kilolitre while the surcharge/penalty is pegged at US$4,13 per kilolitre.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association secretary for administration, Mr Thembelani Dube took a swipe at the local authority. He said there was a possibility that their billing department was estimating bills, punching any figures that were not the actual quantities being consumed by residents.

“I have a situation which I handled just last week where a Pumula South resident was billed US$450 for just one month, I investigated the matter at the housing office, where we discovered that this resident had cleared his bill in September and had been paying an average of US$50 a month since then, which in itself is not accurate as the area is billed between US$25 and US$30 a month.

“This goes to show you that the council’s billing department is estimating these bills. They cannot hide behind high water consumption because in areas like Pumula South, they can go for over a week without water and when the water comes it comes for less than a day, meaning that they get supplies for less than a day in two weeks,” said Mr Dube.

Bulawayo United Residents Association (BURA) chairperson, Mr Winos Dube said while they continued to call on their members to continue paying the little they have towards clearing their council debts, the local authority should also play ball by justifying some of the figures which they billed residents.

“How does one justify a US$400 bill to a resident who is getting water four times a month, it is unexplainable, it shows that there is something amiss in the billing system itself, we are having a problem with estimates, not the true figures.

“There needs to be trust between residents and council not what is prevailing now because of these unexplainable bills. In a city already grappling with economic challenges, the added financial burden of exorbitant water bills is pushing many residents to their breaking point,” said Mr Dube.

The BURA chairperson said there was a need for a thorough audit of the council billing system, calling for Government intervention to restore residents’ confidence.

The city’s councillors have added to the debate, warning council management that if they don’t address the issue they risk possible legal action.

Speaking at a full council meeting various councillors have raised concern over the continued high bills, calling on the finance and development committee to urgently look at the matter.

Ward 9 Councillor, Donaldson Mabutho said it was mind-boggling that some residents went for over a month without water supplies but their bills kept on increasing.

“In this 120-hour water shedding schedule, which we introduced as council, residents are receiving water four days a month, some twice, some once and some are not receiving any supplies at all but the question that arises is that the bill doesn’t change, water is not being consumed daily but bills are increasing.

“Whether it’s our systems, whether its human error, we need to find out what is happening before we start to point fingers, if in the next council, we have a similar problem then we have a serious problem,” he said.

Ward 6 Councillor, Nkosilathi Hove-Mpofu, said the local authority risked facing legal action from residents regarding the high bills.