Scams:
During the national COVID-19 lockdown, which is under way, residents should be aware of people posing as City officials wanting to do routine work at premises.

If staff need access to a property, residents must insist on City staff cards at the very least.

The only electricity services that continue are first line responses to network faults and breakdowns. Repairs that are imperative from a safety perspective are being prioritised. Repairs on streetlights are being done only if, after an assessment, it is deemed a safety risk for the community or electricity staff.

Water and Sanitation services continue as an essential service, however meter reading has been suspended for the period of the lockdown and affected residents will receive estimated accounts, based on their historical consumption.

All municipal workers and contractors must carry a work order number specific to that dwelling and a City-issued identification card. Residents should ask to check the official identification card before allowing anyone into their home.

The identification card must display the City logo, the name and surname of the staff member or mandated contractor, and must contain an embedded photo of the staff member or mandated contractor. Residents are not to allow anyone onto their premises until they have looked at the card and verified these details.

Any suspicious behaviour must be reported to the City’s law enforcement agencies or the City’s Fraud Hotline on 0800 323 130 or to the South African Police Service.

Key contacts
• For faults and emergencies or to report suspicious behaviour please send an SMS to 31220, or email power@capetown.gov.za or faultreport.centre@capetown.gov.za
• To check the credentials of someone purporting to be working in water and sanitation services, please email water@capetown.gov.za or SMS 31373 (max of 160 characters) or call 0860 103 089 or https://eservices1.capetown.gov.za/coct/wapl/zsreq_app/index.html

Residents can still submit water service requests related to the following, which will be attended to:
• Burst mains
• No water at a property
• Stolen meter
• Water quality complaints
• Sewer blockages/overflows
• Pump station faults/overflows
• Servicing of septic tanks
• Missing/stolen manhole covers

Electricity meter readings:
No on site meter readings are being done.
Billings will be based on estimations done over the lockdown period compared to the usage over the same period in 2019. After the lockdown period, normal billing procedures will resume.

To submit your own electricity reading:
• Register on www.capetown.gov.za/Cityconnect to insert a reading
• Read your own meter on a regular basis and send a photo of the meter reading by email to Electricity.MeterReading@capetown.gov.za or phone 021 444 6286/8432/8478/1554 or 0860 103 089 to give your meter reading

Informal Settlements:
The City deems its basic service offering within informal settlements as ‘critical services’. It continues to provide basic and essential services to existing and historic settlements in accordance with the national standards where it is possible to do so. The Western Cape Government and National Government departments as well as the City are working together to achieve enhanced COVID-19 measures for the most vulnerable groups in society.

Therefore, the City is putting in place measures to ensure the continuation of service delivery within informal settlements through the:
• Ongoing education and awareness drives in informal settlement areas
• Distribution of water supply via water tankers to specific informal settlements that do not have access to running water due to these being recently occupied through land invasion or where it is impossible to provide permanent services
• Ongoing collection of waste within informal settlements
• Ongoing sanitation services within informal settlements

Water restrictions due to municipal debt:
New restrictions due to municipal debt were suspended last week on Friday, 20 March 2020.
As for existing restrictions due to municipal debt, it must be noted: water is not cut off. It is restricted to a running trickle-flow after numerous warning letters have been sent to pay municipal debt and efforts to engage residents on debt management arrangements have not been successful. The water is not cut off, but the flow is reduced so that people can still use the water for hygiene and drinking.

We do this to prevent enormous water wastage and also to ensure that the municipality can still carry on functioning to provide services.

For the reconnection of water, please phone 0860 103 089 and elect option 2 to make a temporary payment arrangement that will be valid until the end of June 2020.

Importantly, as per the City’s Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy:
Customers should agree to an upfront payment and instalments for the next three months of:
• The current account and
• At least 1% of the total debt if the person only defaulted on two previous occasions
OR
• Current account and
• Payment of at least 10% of the total debt if the person already defaulted more than three times

Please continue to pay accounts to ensure the City remains fully functional during this crisis.

For account payments:
• The City encourages account holders to use the City’s online e-services portal to pay their accounts
• Other payment options available to account holders include paying online using their bank’s website or via ATM, at Nedbank
• The City is already listed as a beneficiary with all major banks, so account holders do not need to load bank details when paying online. Account holders can also register with www.paycity.co.za or www.easypay.co.za to pay accounts
• To pay via ATM, account holders can simply contact their bank to add the City as an ATM beneficiary

For information on how to apply for indigent relief, please send an email to indigent.relief@capetown.gov.za or visit www.capetown.gov.za/indigentbenefits

City’s contact centre:
The City’s contact centre has a limited telephone service.

Residents are requested to please log their service requests via SMS, email, or online as far as possible.

Furthermore, services are limited to water, sanitation, and solid waste and reconnections only.

The contact centre is still operating 24/7 to ensure we attend to queries related to essential services.

The contact details are as follows:
• Email – water@capetown.gov.za
• SMS to 31373 (max. of 160 characters)
• Phone 0860 103 089
• Online – go to www.capetown.gov.za, click on ‘City Connect’ and choose the applicable option, for example to report a fault