NMB debtors increase by R 456.4 million over 12 month

The amount owed by consumers to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality increased by R456.4 million between the end of September 2013 and the same date this year, according to figures released this week by the National Treasury.

The figures show that total debt at the end of September last year was R3.124 billion, of which R1.371 billion had been owed for up to 30 days.

By the end of the same month this year, total debt had increased to R3.581 billion, of which R1.483 billion had been owing for up to 30 days.
The figures show that the amount outstanding for over 90 days increased from R1.437 billion to R1.716 billion over the 12 month period, while the total outstanding for between 61 and 90 days rose from R75.3 million to R107.6 million year-on-year.

The R3.581 billion owed at September 30 this year represented 6.5% of all debts owed to the eight metros country wide, an increase from 6% the previous year.

The National Treasury figures show that debts owed to the Eastern Cape’s other metro Buffalo City increased by R150.1 million year-on-year to total R1.269 billion on September 30, 2014 or 2.3% of the total owed to all the metros.
National Treasury’s analysis of who owes the money shows that of the total of R54.7 billion due to the eight metros, at the end of September 2014, some R30.7 billion or 56.1% was owed by households and R15.4 billion or 26.2% by commercial enterprises. R1.5 billion or 2.8% was owed by organs of state.

The over due amounts are projected to increase in the light of substantial electricity and water tariff hikes at the start of the next financial year.

Article published from Metro Minutes by Patrick Cull.