City is budgeting $1.5M to deal with water bill complaints
Reimbursing Calgarians who unintentionally rack up huge water bills is expected to cost the city around $1.5 million a year, according to a report presented to a council committee this week.
Last fall, city administration was ordered to look into the matter after reports emerged of numerous Enmax customers complaining about skyrocketing monthly water and wastewater bills.
Hundreds of bills have been reviewed and hundreds of thousands of dollars returned to customers under a revised billing adjustment process. Around $947,000 in adjustments was paid out to customers stemming from disputed bills in 2016 and 2017, the city says.
And since October, customers who receive a big bill because of unintentional water use amounting to three times their seasonal average may be eligible for a reimbursement under the new adjustment process.
The cost will be applied to everyone’s monthly bills starting in 2019 — a figure expected to be about 30 to 40 cents each month.
“I’m really happy that the city reviewed each one of these (and) those citizens have been reimbursed, because there was no reason to be that high,” said Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who first urged the city to conduct a review.
“The whole exercise was important because people were really questioning the integrity of our water metering system.”
A fraction of the city’s 345,000 water utility customers occasionally experience higher than normal water consumption, in most cases due to undetected leaks in toilets, irrigation systems or hot tubs. But around 20 customers each month receive big water bills where the cause can’t be determined, according to city data.
The water utility is now dispatching a technician for home visits in rare cases where the cause for the high bills can’t be determined, at a cost to the city of around $600 per visit.
The steps being taken aren’t only intended to satisfy customers, but to ensure water isn’t being wasted, the city says.
Calgarians should feel confident in the accuracy of their water meters and billing system after an independent review was conducted of the city’s residential water metering controls, practices and technology, councillors heard.
Consultants found the city’s water utility demonstrated “industry leading practices” in the application, testing and replacement of its metering infrastructure.
“Meter failure or malfunction has not been the cause of any high consumption cases for the City of Calgary,” the city says.
Part of the problem with the high bills was related to communication, said Shannon Abbot, a manager with the city’s water resources unit. “It’s really around doing a better job of not talking about a typical ( bill), but sharing with our customers what the range can be around how significant a leak can be and supporting them to stay on top of that and avoid those high bills.”
City administration also plans to bring forward a customer assistance program for low-income Calgarians who struggle to pay their water bills each month for council’s consideration in the next four-year budget cycle.