What's up with this.....

For the past 4 to 6 weeks I have been waking up at around 4.30 am. Not every night, but often enough for me to be troubled by the event. And it's not like I am getting to bed too early, always after 10pm, usually closer to 11. And when I wake up, I'm not tired, to the point where I eventually just get up, go downstairs and have a smoke or 3, and a cup of coffee, or 2....Just sitting outside on my deck, listening to the birds start to chirp, and some poor buggers leaving for work (crap when you have to travel far for work).

And it's not like I'm tired early the next day. So, my sleep clock is broken. The other issue is when I do wake up (even if it's with the alarm clock at 6.30am), my body is sore. Especially the hips. But, as soon as I hit the shower, that pain goes away. Old age stiffness I suppose.

On other matters, I have had another run in with the local municipality. They have been stuffing around with the billing for water usage. So when we built the house, we had a pre-paid water meter installed. Worked well for about 12 months. Then it packed up. I reported it, and they came out to check. They removed it, saying they didn't have a replacement, put a bypass pipe in, and left, promising to be back with another unit. They never came back. Every 6 months I would go down to the water department, tell them I am still waiting for a new meter, and leave. Every other month I would send an email. Nothing. That was around August 2006. In July 2017, I had to take the ex off of the account, so went to see them. They did a check on the system, and saw that I had not bought any water tokens for a while! Seriously? You the same clown that has ignore my verbal and written requested for 11 years, and now this? Anyway, they can only back bill for 36 months, and only the average for the area, so it cost me around R36000. And on the 12th of May, 2022, they finally came out and installed a new water meter - but on my property, not outside on the sidewalk where they can take readings every month.

So, on the 8th of every month, I have been taking a photo of the meter, and sending an email to 3 or 4 people who "work" in the water department, and who are responsible to capture said details.

My email includes:- 1) Date, 2) Reading, 3) Serial number of meter, 4) Physical address, 5) Erf number and 6) a phot of the said meter. For the first while, they captured the details as sent. Then they seemed to lose the plot, and the readings were a few KL off, like the reading might go from 358 to 369 (11kl), and they would bill 358 to 371 (13kl). I didn't worry too much.

Then I discovered a massive leak, exactly where they had connected the incoming pipe to the meter. It was a few days after I installed a 1500lt JoJo tank for backup. SO I closed the incoming valve to stop the leak, and ran off the tank (with booster pump). The water in the tank lasted me more than 7 days! This meant my average use per month was actually in the region of 5 - 6 kl per month, meaning that the leak had been there, undiscovered for a long time! No matter, I reported it to the relevant department. And rereported it daily, on WhatsApp and by email, copying all and sundry, including the mayor, for 21 days! Every time my tank ran dry, I would open the valve, let it refill the tank while leaking away, and then close it. 

It was only after I approached the previous mayor (read DA), that I got some joy. They came out to check, contractors obviously, as our water dept. employees are only there to use the municipal bakkies as taxis, and a director of the said contracting company. They all agreed that the initial installation was wrong, should have been outside of the property, and, that it was a poor install. So, as per my request, they removed it, and reinstalled it outside, and made good the connection inside. Eventually! Ever since, my monthly average use is 5lk! I still take and send the photo every month....however - 

On my last statement I received for the period 03/01/2025 to 02/02/2025, I noticed two things,1) they billing me for 20kl of water, which means 6kl at one rate, 9kl at a higher rate, and 5kl at maximum rate (sliding scale - the more you use, the more you pay). And the reading, instead of being 354 to 359 (5kl) is 1357 to 1377 (20lk)!!! Where the hell do they get this.

So I checked back, and from Oct last year, they have used fictitious readings, starting in the 1000's, where my meter is still in the 100's.

So, off to the municipal offices. Stand for 1 hr and 15 minutes in a queue (only 6 people in front of me), because as the employee finishes with someone, they leave, and no one comes back for 10 minutes. Then someone else comes, helps one client, and leaves, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Eventually, I get to speak to someone, who takes me serious. Asks for my readings from Oct. 2024. Lucky I still have the photos on my phone, so I can give the readings to her. She promises to redo my statements, and that I will receive a corrected statement for this month.

Needless to say, I have not received anything. Online check confirms my statement is still the same as previously received. An email sent will go unanswered.

So today, I am going back to the sad queue, loaded with all the paperwork, photos, proof of their incompetency. I will remain there till they issue me with a new, correct statement. Failing that, I will be going to see the mayor, and don't think I'm going to be nice.

So it's 3 hours later. I went armed with copies of statements, emails sent, and my personal spreadsheet showing every reading taken since the meter was installed. As per the norm, I spent almost an hour in the queue. Of the 3 ladies assiting (yup, there were 3 today), one didn't have a computer on her desk (no way she's going to be of any help), the second one seemed to enjoy chit chatting with the clients who sat at her desk (not really interested in the people still waiting in the queue), and the 3rd lady, seemed to know what she was doing. If nothing else, I would let those behind me pass through until lady no 3 was available.

As luck would have it, I go to see her. She listened, she looked at whatI had brought with, and took it away, to consult with someone. I did mention as she was walking away, that  wasn't planning on leaving till I had a revised statement in my hands!

She was away for maybe 20 minutes - no problem, I was playing poker on my cellphone :).

When she returned, she presented me with all my papers, and a revised statement, which shows all the required credits and debits going back 9 months (from when this mistake started) as well as my current outstanding balance, which is R600 less than the one I got last week! So, she listened, and did her job, and did it well! She also complimented me on my record keeping, and said I should continue with that.

And, she confirmed that the problems started when my emails stopped coming through. It would seem that there was a glitch in their system, and my emails were probably going to spam. Okay, I will give them the benefit of the doubt, this time.... All's well that ends well!

Have a blessed day!