New tenants in house incorrectly billed for meter

We moved into a rental house at the beginning of December where the previous tenants really messed the house up. <br> <br> While reparations were done to the house during November the owner of the house was advised that there had been tampered with the prepaid meter. City of Cape Town was immediately informed. <br> <br> We had been in the house for 3 days when City of Cape Town came to fix the prepaid meter. We were requested to forward a copy of our lease agreement to Mr K Jacobs in order to prove that we had only just moved in, otherwise we would receive a penalty. This was on 2 December 2015. The required fax was successfully sent to Mr Jacobs on the same date. No feedback was received even though I requested a confirmation of receipt. <br> <br> On 14 December 2015 we received a penalty invoice for R5 289.00. <br> <br> We have taken all steps requested in order to avoid this happening, but is still penalized because of poor client service.