Just How Much Does Water Cost? MyZA

There was once a time when we didn’t really concern ourselves wit the cost of water – a leak in the system was seen as a neat way of watering the plants, water was cheap and plentiful. As the grip of climate change, a renewed sense of caring for our scarce resources evolved. A growing population, very few new dams being built, ageing infrastructure and a renewed commitment to providing free water allocations to our indigent population placed relentless upward pressure on the cost of water to our homes and businesses.

Consumers are now tasked with saving and monitoring their usage of water as part of the \new normal’. There are always solutions to assist municipal water consumers in controlling their consumption and this Water Consumption Monitor is cost effective and powerful.

Put it another way we can show:

How much a small leak pushing you into a higher tariff will actually cost you OR
Why people on the highest tariff are not paying more for leaks
How installing a remote water monitor will save you money, time and headaches.

As the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area marches towards Day Zero tempers are getting frayed, tank suppliers are working overtime and the Municipality sits back expecting a huge windfall from citizens.

Yup, a huge windfall from punitive tariffs AND from ‘non-existent’ sewage charges. The sewage tariff is an absolute mystery to me but my assumption is that as the charge is based on a percentage of the amount of metered water the situation has to be that sewage costs are over inflated in households collecting shower, bath, kitchen sink and other water for recycling and NOT flushing that water into our sewage system.

Lets examine Part C of the Municipal Water Tariffs.

The tariffs for a domestic user under Part C (2021/22 prices including VAT) per kl consumed are:

Step 1 (>0 ? 0,3 kl/d) – R23.93
Step 2 (> 0,3 ? 0,5 kl/d) – R36.57
Step 3 (>0,5? 0.8 kl/d) – R73.14
Step 4 (>0.8 ? 1,0 kl/d) – R121.90
Step 5 (>1,0 ? 1,6 kl/d) – R182.85
Step 6 (>1.6kl/d) – R365.70

Let’s examine the effect of a 1500 litre per month dripping tap leak pushing the consumer into a higher Step on the above tariffs;

Step 1 consumer will pay R170.27 EXTRA
Step 2 consumer will pay R666.26 EXTRA
Step 3 consumer will pay R1370.16 EXTRA
Step 4 consumer will pay R2129.44 EXTRA
Step 5 consumer will pay R9453.35 EXTRA
Step 6 consumer will continue paying R365.70 PER kl or R548.55 EXTRA

The above figures are based on an average month of 30.4375 days and the consumer consuming the limit in each step with the dripping tap amount of 1500 litres added to the total and charged at the next highest Stepped tariff.

What are the safeguards against this:

The cheapest solution is to check your taps, toilets and piping every day for leaks.
Read your water meter every hour if possible.
Install rainwater harvesting systems.
Install private pre-paid water meters to flatlets and other sections of your home/business.
Make use of a Live Water Meter Monitor such as the AUSiot-Monitor.

The Live Water Meter Monitor from Straton Electrical is an easy to install DIY project as it installs into any municipal water meter with a probe receptacle, rendering the monitor non-invasive. Coupled with an online APP (for which there is a monthly charge) you will be notified of any anomalies in water consumption as well as be able to read your water meter consumption quickly and easily.

Couple the savings from not having to actually walk to your meter every hour PLUS those from any leaks you may have and the meter will pay for itself from Day 1.

The AUSiot-Monitor is available online here or from Straton Electrical at 13 Mangold Street, Newton Park Gqeberha, South Africa.