The eThekwini Municipality reveals the significant challenges faced by water and electricity meter readers.
Image: File
The eThekwini Municipality has laid bare the types of challenges water and electricity meter readers face, including wasp nests and vicious dogs, which have resulted in estimated billing.
The challenges were contained in a Finance Committee report on accounts management and billing at a council meeting in February 2026.
The municipality stated that meter reading services are a critical component of revenue collection.
The report explained that water meters are read monthly, while electricity meters are read every third month, with the exception of business meters, which are read monthly for actual and accurate billing of consumption used.
In November 2025, a total of 55,325 bills were estimated, increasing to 61,567 in December 2025. This was only 12% of the 517,302 Points of Delivery (PODs) on route.
The municipality also found that the increase in the estimations was due to a number of meters removed on site that still exist on the eThekwini Revenue Management System.
Estimates are mainly due to locked properties, obstruction to meter access, and vicious dogs preventing access to properties.
The municipal revenue department is currently issuing notifications to customers requesting access to their properties for meter reading purposes.
“Should there be no improvement, punitive tariffs will be applied to accounts not read for a period exceeding three months from the date of notification, in accordance with the Credit Control Policy,” the municipality stated in its report.
Regarding electricity meter reading, approximately 19% of meters remain unread. The average estimation used for these unread meters is often equivalent to the practice of reading meters once every three months.
There are also 15,889 disconnected meters; however, in some instances, the municipality stated that movement suggests tampering.
Statistics provided in the report state that in November 2025, there were 310,754 (64,919 estimated) PODs, and in December 2025, 312,914 (59,118 estimated) PODs.
Some of the challenges faced by meter readers also include:
Dr. Jonathan Annipen, IFP councillor in eThekwini, said he was concerned about estimated billing and delayed meter reading, which he said harmed residents.
“There should be a coordinated approach. Customers in arrears must be allowed to enter into payment agreements interest-free,” he said.
Saul Basckin, ActionSA eThekwini councillor, said the report states that billing completeness is almost 100%, yet councillors are approached daily by residents facing billing errors of tens and even hundreds of thousands of rand.
“In the same report, 19% of electricity accounts and 14% of water accounts are estimated. In real terms, that means almost one in five residential meters is not properly read every three months. That alone makes any claim of effective billing unsustainable,” he said.
Basckin said the report further records over 47,000 faulty water meters, with no real programme in place to replace them.
“Despite the introduction of online meter submissions, this report provides no data on how many readings are submitted online versus read by staff. That omission shows something is fundamentally wrong with how performance is being measured. Even more concerning, interest is being charged on incorrect and disputed accounts, sometimes for months or even years,” he said.