electricity and water price increase

[murdock]

you got to give the durban municipality credit for their inovation in making money.

they install piping for sewage then get you to diconnect your spetic tank and connect to their system at a fee...then restructure your account so that you have to pay for it every month...but what blows my mind is not only will you have to pay for it but will then be charged for them to purify it and pump your own sh!t back into your water system...then charge you for it again...man why cant i think ideas like that to get rich quick.

customers ask me on a daily basis to explain to them why their accounts seem to be getting more and more by the month...my advice...

never read only one account you must take at least 1 years accounts and then look at the estimates...look at the months winter summer...what could have caused the account to increas eor decrease for that matter...you mete ris only read every 3 months...so if there was an increase in your account in summer because you ran all your aircons flat out...remeber you will be paying that additional bill for the next 3 months and only once they read the meter again will it decrease if you have used less over the next 3 months.

you can contact the them and send you meter reading to them on a monthly basis...but remeber they only take from the 12-14 of each month not the end of the month...this will stop surprise accounts after 3 months...

and dont forget your electricity account will increase at the end of june by more than 18 % and wate rwill be going up more than 6 % and if you have moved from a septic tank to online sewage you will be paying more each month...

so for those of you who think you are saving the enviroent by using grey water systems and redirecting wate rto your garden toilets etc...save your selves the time and money...because the municipality is still charging you a fee to remove it ther eis no meter to give you credit...you are charged a percentage of your water useage.

looks like rain water is gona be the answer to sh!t free water...glad i have already started redirecting all my gutters to tanks...it works like a charm in summer but i am running out of wate rin winter...so my plan is to increase the size of tanks because in one huge rain you can collect as much as 10 000 lt in as hort period of time...trust me i know.

the only thing i still need for the raining days is a pre paid meter to charge my batteries...i have also had to move some of my solar panels because i noted that the batteires wher enot getting a full charge because of the sun moving across a different par tof the house.

so something to remeber if you install solar panels make sure they are installed in such a way that they get the summer and winter sun.

[Martinco]

Murdock,

I am on prepaid meter and have bought some power last week through the normal Spar "buy power and sms for the code" system.

Now my question.......if I keep these slips till after the price has gone up, will I get units as per the old price or the new one.?

I have a suspicion that I will get the power at the new price ?

[murdock]

that is an interesting question...let us know...after the 1 july...if you do have to pay more...that would be a great money saving idea to buy a pile of prepaid just before the increase if you do pay the old price.

i know in durban you buy a voucher with the number already on the slip...so it would pay to do it in durban...but you never know.

[Martinco]

Yes we can also buy from the municipality with the code on the slip already and I am sure that it would then be at the price you paid but with the sms system I think it is going to use the price on the date of sms.

[murdock]

the information about the sewage to be used for water in the future was taken from the mercury 27 june 2011 top of page 2

[tec0]

I am getting the feeling nothing we do will save us money. I have a 2500L tank that basically ran out every month due to our lack of municipal services. That said, I cut back on everything. When the computer is on TV is off when heater is on everything else if off and that kinds of sucks because you are no longer living your life.

The stupidity of it all is when the municipality cuts our power for the night you can see all the mines smiling away sucking as much power as they possibly can. So yes Greenpeace dumped a few bags of coal in Eskom’s driveway as protests… Pointless at best…

So is invention our future? Well in a word YES. I would imagine that we will soon use our own brains to generate the power we need. Because the truth is renewable energy via solar-panels and its batteries are not cost effective at all due to very expensive maintenance.

So here we are…

[Justloadit]

Note with prepaid meter vouchers.

If you are buying the PIN and using an SMS, then you are using the UNIPIN service. You are being charged for the SMS you are sending out.
Another point to remember, they issue units based on your purchase of electricity at the time of purchase or in the case of UNIPIN, at the time of the SMS. Now what they also do, is that they monitor your buying, if you purchase more than the minimum amount of power for the rate, you automatically get shafted by getting units based on the next rate. IN other words, if you have an allowance of 2Mwatts per month at Rate 1, and you purchase more power than this, they immediately adjust the number of units based on the cost of the next table rate. In other words if you purchase and enable say R10,000 of electricity, you will be paying penalties, even though you have physically not used the power yet. So ensure if you do bulk purchasing, that you do not exceed your monthly consumption for the lowest rate.

Very soon you I will be interfacing into Ethekwini directly, and you can even use your cellphone to purchase at your convenience 24/7, along with prepaid airtime as well. To register simply dial *120*72735#, if you are not registered, it will ask you to enter a PIN, for security which you enter and reply - remember this number, and you will get an SMS stating that you are registered and the bank details to deposit your funds. All you need to do is to transfer funds into our account, 24/7 if you are with ABSA or FNB using cellphone banking or EFT, using the cellphone number as a reference, and your float is immediately loaded. You then enter *120*72735# again, it will ask you for your pin, which you enter and reply, a menu appears, select "Prepaid Elec" by choosing the menu number, reply, select the respective municipality by using the menu number and reply, enter the meter number and reply,enter the amount you wish to purchase and reply, and a a few seconds later the PIN will appear on the screen. Enter the number into your meter and enjoy the power . You can check you float balance dialing the same number *120*72735# and entering the respective menu number, you can also see your last purchases by selecting "Prev Sale". If you like you can enter the complete number and your PIN at the same time saving you the effort of entering the PIN, so if your PIN was 1234, then you could dial *120*72735*1234# and it would immediately come up with the first menu.


Will let you know when this service is active almost there a few more days.

[murdock]

by the way i found out today that people of durban and i am sure other parts of the country are already drinking the sh!t pumped into the rivers...uncotronlled sewage works are already releasing sewage into the river system which is our drinking water source...so it wont be anything new.

[murdock]

I am getting the feeling nothing we do will save us money. I have a 2500L tank that basically ran out every month due to our lack of municipal services. That said, I cut back on everything. When the computer is on TV is off when heater is on everything else if off and that kinds of sucks because you are no longer living your life.

The stupidity of it all is when the municipality cuts our power for the night you can see all the mines smiling away sucking as much power as they possibly can. So yes Greenpeace dumped a few bags of coal in Eskom’s driveway as protests… Pointless at best…

So is invention our future? Well in a word YES. I would imagine that we will soon use our own brains to generate the power we need. Because the truth is renewable energy via solar-panels and its batteries are not cost effective at all due to very expensive maintenance.

So here we are…

i store the bulk of my water in a plastic 8000 lt swimming pool which i purchased from pick and pay for R700 filter pump included...the benefit is you use it like a pool...it has a filter and you just add a floating chlorine container to help keep it clean.

i have tanks under my gutter pipes which have taps at the bottom...which have normal hoise pipes connected...which are then then redirected to the pool when we have huge rain fall...so the pool is first priority....then the house pipes can be redirected to any of the other tanks on my property or via 1000 gallon per hour 12 volt pumps...which are powered by 105 amp/hr batteries... from the pool....i used felxable hose i purchased from a piping company for only R4 per meter....same one people use to drain their pools...its the cheapest piping and it rolls up into a small roll....for corners i use electrical conduit which i bent with the spring to prevent kinks...and tie with cable ties to prevent leaks or should i say slow the slow of water.

most of my mates still think i am buffing them that i dont have electricity or water...i was hoping to be totally independant from the council by the end of the year...but apparently i cant disconnect the sewage line and reconnect my septic tank...nor can i stop the refuse removal bill...it is forced upon us...like rates....taxes...pertol price....toll fees....etc etc etc etc...so much for freedom....you live in the city you beome a slave to the municipalities...even if you use grey water sytems etc etc you still pay the standard rate...so why waste money trying to save?

what next the number implanted in your head so they can bill you for walking on the pavements...yeah it sounds ridiculous but i wouldnt put anything past this govermment....its all about the money...this straight from the horse s mouth...as zuma mentioned in a public statement last night...money has bcome a sickness in the anc.,,i think for most people.

[wynn]

Most municipalities levy an availability charge for water, electricity and sewerage even if you don't use it, so even if you are off the grid you will still pay for the fact that it is available.

[smitty]

Please excuse me if I'm asking stupid questions. Why not minimize your water and electrical usage from the municipality? Surely this is cheaper than trying to get completely off the grid? And you can still gain the benefit of being able to carry on living if the power or water goes out for a while.

[murdock]

not a stupid question...in fact there is no such thing as a stupid question...only dumass people who dont ask then wonder why or how for the rest of their lives.

the bottom line is i havent paid my municipalty account...since last year november therefore thay have cut off my electricity since january and water since march...i have been in to try sort it out but unfortunatly they have requested i pay a R10 000 deposit over and above the R2500 deposit they already have...before they will enter into any payment agreement with me...andunfotunatly i am not in a position to come up with that kind of deposit so we are learning to live like the other 3 million people who dont have water and lights...i am also not in a position to go out and fit a R10000 solar geyser...nor buy and run a bigger generator...so over the last six months we have learnt to adapt to our new way of life.

we will survive...it is just a pity because we have a 230 000 volt power line over head and a 400 volt overhead line running past our house...i just cant bring myself to steal the electricity...i dont know why...because i have all the equipment and knowledge to connect to the overhead line put tee pieces in the ground...and these idiots who run the electricity department now havent a clue what is going on with their infrastructure...or who is illegally connected and who isnt...thats why they need people to pimp on each other to catch them out.

it could have something to do with my past...i found the more you steal the more you get punished in other ways...i am sure some of you know about the big wheel which always turns a full cycle...this could be my time of collecting for my wrong doings in my past...or just an experince to make me wiser...what ever it is i wont allow it to get to me.

[smitty]

I'm assuming that you are willing and able to pay for the months of November to current (plus market related interest). I think your problem is most likely to be solved if you can find someone at the municipality willing to help by accepting payment to settle the account balance without requiring huge deposits or penalties. I'd suggest approaching your ward councillor to get the municipality to work with you to get this resolved otherwise you could spend a lot of time finding that person at the municipality.

[watermetersupplier]

So you gotta have a water meter installed for better control of your daily usage, lol

[wynn]

You will also have a huge problem if you want to sell your house someday.