Disclaimer: As part of Straton Prepaid I do have a sort of vested interest in promoting this notion.
The reasons why I say that NMB should be installing prepaid water meters are as follows:
- An increasing number of residents phone our offices thinking that we install prepaid water meters that REPLACE municipal water meters – this is not true.
- Most of those callers say that they want prepaid water meters as they are sick and tired of faithfully reporting monthly water consumption only to receive accounts that are patently incorrect and trying to get a credit is impossible.
- Our dam levels downward trajectory is steep – steeper than we have seen for a long time. So, we could be headed for more punitive tariffs.
So, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality would be well advised to start planning now for the possible implementation of prepaid water meters to control widespread abuse of the system.
We at Straton Prepaid are pretty well placed to help guide the municipality toward a fair and correct system and, need I say, our reputation is one that is not riddled with corruption, fraud or systemic abuse of the system for our own private gain. We tend to look at the industry, the client’s needs and society as a whole when advising clients.
Nelson Mandela Bay Dam Levels:
We need to remember what happened in March 2017 when the Western Cape Provincial Government first declared the Western Cape region, including Cape Town, a disaster area.
Following that on 4 October, 2017 the City of Cape Town published its Critical Water Shortages Disaster Plan, which formally addressed the risk of “Day Zero” and outlined phases for water rationing and distribution. This plan was a major turning point in public awareness and behavior.
On 13 February 2018 the South African National Government formally elevated the drought in the Western Cape to a “National Disaster” after reassessing its magnitude and severity.
We do not want to see what happened in Cape Town happen in Nelson Mandela Bay. Unless you like having a Triple S (Shit, Shower and Shave) using only 5 litres of water!
