Home Owners Need To Be Proactive When It Comes To Tshwane Municipal Accounts
Category General Information
City of Tshwane is the bulk supplier of water and electricity to residents of Pretoria/Tshwane including Silver Lakes and surrounds. Annually in July, the tariffs for these services increase as the fees charged by Rand Water and Eskom are passed onto the ratepayer.
Municipal Water Accounts:
Tip 1 - Take monthly water readings
When it comes to water usage, it is important to study the monthly Tshwane account. On the second page of the account, details are provided expanding on the information appearing on the front page.
Normally Tshwane provides estimated readings for water usage. This can provide a false sense of security in that it might not be an accurate reflection of how much water is being used by the household in a month. It is therefore strongly recommended that owners and/or tenants take monthly water readings and submit these to City of Tshwane.
Tshwane has divided its municipal area into various portions. To find out in which portion a suburb is located, look on the right side of the account for the P number, for example Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate is P13. A Tshwane spreadsheet provides the date on which the water reading needs to be sent to Tshwane. The reading can be sent either via email to a dedicated email address or it can be submitted via the e-Tshwane portal. Taking regular water readings is a useful exercise as it is possible to determine average monthly usage. It will then also become evident when an issue has occurred such as an underground water leak which could cause an uncharacteristically large reading.
Tip 2 - Carefully study the account
Should Tshwane use the reading submitted by the resident, "MR" is printed on the account next to the water reading. Alternatively when Tshwane does its own reading, the account states "actual" or when the reading is based on an estimated reading, it will state "estimate".
Tip 3 - Keep record
Take a picture of the meter reading as this provides useful backup should it be required at a later stage or in the event of an account discrepancy.
Be proactive, submit a monthly water meter reading. In the long run it is a worthwhile and cost-saving exercise by preventing surprise large catch-up accounts when readings are not done by the municipality on a regular basis and low estimated costs are charged for several months well below actual usage.
Author: Ikonic Real Estate