Actual v Estimated 2020

The effect of Actual v Estimated Readings in COJ can often cause serious Billing Irregularities and school should pay attention to this detail. One school we are presently involve with has not been presented an Actual Electricity eading since May 2017 and the Electricity Meter detailed on the Municipal Invoice has long been removed from the school, causing an almost R500,000 over billing issue.

The COJ Electricity and Water invoice generally has 2 Pages: Page 1 presents the Outstanding Balance, Payment Received, any Interest Overcharge and the Monthly Charges (Plus VAT).

However, the devil in the detail of Page 2, which details the Monthly Consumption and Cost, is where attention must be focused. 

Suntricity uploads thousands of these invoices to the Database Platform  FIRSTLOOK each Month and at the end of 2020 we can report the following percentage of Actual v Estimated Readings presented by COJ in 2020:

ELECTRICITY INVOICES 2020: 84% ACTUAL READINGS - 16% ESTIMATED READINGS
WATER INVOICES: 55% ACTUAL READINGS - 45% ESTIMATED READINGS

From the above statistics, it is very easy to understand that the vast majority of COJ Billing Irregularities occur on the COJ Water Account. 

Schools should pay particular attention to ensure the correctness of the Readings presented by the Municipality by:
  1. Confirming the Electricity and Water Meter Number detailed on the Municipal Invoice is the same as that detailed on the Electricity and Water Meter installed at the school.
  2. should the Municipality change the Meter, take photographs of the installation process, particularly take a photograph of the Existing Meter after it has been removed, to document the final reading.
  3. Take photographs of the Electricity and Water meters at least once each month - this will be very important proof in the event of Billing Irregularities.
  4. Should the school have any doubt of excessive Electricity and Water consumption, take twice daily photos of the meters and contact Suntricity.https://www.firstlook.co.za/blog/water-loss-outside-of-school-hours
Suntricity published a series of articles a while back, relating to the 5 Common Causes of Billing Irregularities in COJ - for further reference see https://www.firstlook.co.za/blog/common-causes-of-incorrect-billing-change-of-water-meter

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further assistance: mail@suntricity.co.za