THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has revealed that the introduction of the United States dollar billing system has yielded significant benefits, notably the elimination of confusion among residents previously caused by the volatile and rapidly fluctuating local currency.
BCC finance chairperson councillor Mpumelelo Moyo said the US dollar billing system had brought with it various merits which benefit the council and residents in the city.
He said the benefits of US dollar billing were further from being limited to debt reduction.
“Various merits have accrued both to council and the residents in view of the US dollar billing as the customers now receive a monthly consistent bill from which they can plan their payments,” Moyo said.
“The council billing system no longer has truncated big figures that used to confuse customers. Payments for services like fuel and roads materials that are strictly quoted in forex are now possible,” he said.
Last year, the council announced that it would be introducing a new United States dollar-based billing system which came into use in July, while invoices have converted into foreign currency.
Then council finance chairperson councillor Tawanda Ruzive said they had also decided as a department to switch their accounts to foreign currency.
He said the local authority had realised that continuing charging rates in the ZWG, which is losing value, had given them a headache.
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Ruzive said the billing system would be in US dollars and residents and ratepayers’ invoices would be in foreign currency, although they would choose the currency they want to use to pay bills.
