Large bill received

I received a large bill from Ekurhuleni September 2015 R53,000 and was told that an adjustment had been done due to incorrect meter readings done by both myself and the meter readers and therefore bills issued were incorrect. No liability was taken by Ekurhuleni for their negligence in the meter readers taking incorrect readings and they also said I phoned in a digit short. Is it not the responsibility too then for the people you contact with the meter readings to inform one. Also numbers to call in meter readings was forever changing. What is the point of being a law abiding citizen of this country and ensuring you pay your debts when you get hit with something like this. I was retrenched two years ago and am unemployed. Also the fact is that they have adjusted the bill for three years and for 2 years when my son was in the house there was inconsistency in the house as he was not always there.At those times the geyser was switched off completely so how is it possible to pay for something when nobody was there?The council needs to accept responsibility for negligence. Last year July we took tenants in as my son was retrenched and the bill has ncreased which happens with tenants