Dispute a municipal bill without losing your lights

Step 1: Log a real dispute, not a moan

Under section 102 of the Municipal Systems Act, a valid dispute must identify the specific amounts you contest and the grounds: the meter reading is estimated while you have photos of the actual reading, the tariff is wrong, the property was billed for a burst on the street side. "My bill is too high" is a query the system can ignore. Log it in writing through the metro's official channel, and do not put the phone down or close the page without a reference number.

Step 2: Keep paying what you do not dispute

This is the rule that protects you. Metro credit control policies apply collection steps to arrears, but not to amounts genuinely in dispute; that protection holds only while the undisputed part of the account stays paid. Work out the normal month's amount, pay it on time every month with the account number as reference, and say in your dispute exactly what you are paying and why.

Step 3: Escalate on paper, not on hold

• No outcome within the policy's timeframe: escalate to a formal internal appeal under section 62 of the Systems Act
• Johannesburg has a Municipal Ombudsman for maladministration; other metros have escalation offices named in their credit control policies
• Cut off despite a valid dispute and paid undisputed amounts: demand urgent reconnection in writing citing the credit control policy, and take legal advice on an urgent interdict if refused
• Every step in writing, every reference kept; the paper trail is the case

Old municipal debt and prescription

Suddenly billed for consumption from years ago? Electricity and water consumption charges generally prescribe after three years; property rates only after thirty. If a payment or written acknowledgment did not interrupt the clock and no judgment exists, prescription on old consumption can be raised in writing. Do not pay "just something" on genuinely prescribed amounts before advice; a payment can restart the clock. Where a summons arrives, never ignore it; prescription must be raised as a defence.