BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has denied that it is sending residents estimated bills following complaints by ratepayers over astronomical bills.
Aggrieved residents have for some time now been complaining about BCC's billing system.
In July last year, the local authority was forced to review nearly 120 000 incorrect bills in 19 of its 26 wards.
Council’s finance officer Denis Ndlovu, however, said it was not the council’s fault that residents were receiving astronomical bills.
“Major cause of high bills is that residents suffer from late payments, which cause distortion as some payments are yet to be captured,” Ndlovu said.
Ndlovu said council bills residents for the pipeline levy, fixed water charge, fixed sewer, and waste management before consumption.
“Meter-based readings also include several utility bills such as the 70% sewer in which water would have been used added to the actual water consumption,” Ndlovu said.
Council spokesperson Bongiwe Ngwenya said leakages and opened taps during the water-rationing periods were also to blame for the high bills.
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“People leave their taps on, while all the air coming out of the taps (called air ingress) will be reading from the meter, which increases their bill,” Ngwenya said.
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