City cancels $28,000 water bill charged to resident
Faulty water meter indicated more than nine million litres of water was used in four months
Bedard was shocked.
“Getting close to a $28,000 bill is not something I want to see,” she said.
Bedard, who typically pays about $140 on her regular water bills, lives alone in a Sherbourne Street home equipped with one bathroom. But she received a water bill from St. Catharines city hall this week, saying she owed $27,870.34 for using 9,046,435 cubic metres of water in the past four months. That’s more than nine million litres.
It’s enough water to last an average family of four more than 31 years.
And for Bedard, “it just didn’t make sense.”
“Obviously, it was a bit of a shock.”
After testing the city’s water meter, the city determined that the device was faulty — and Bedard’s massive bill was void.
Ward 3 St. George’s Coun. Sal Sorrento called it “good news.”
“She doesn’t owe the city $27,000 and change, or $28,000 — that’s very good news.”
“Now we just have to tie up loose ends with what her actual consumption is and I’ll work on a couple of things for her,” he said.
Sorrento said he couldn’t make any promises, but considering the stress the issue has caused Bedard he planned to try to get her entire bill waived for the billing period — including the $92 charge for testing the meter, and any charges for her actual consumption.
He said it would be “a compassionate gesture” to waive the entire bill for the period.
Although Bedard’s bill is among the largest the city has issued to a resident, St. Catharines billing manager Lisa Read said “it’s not the first one we’ve seen of this magni Carmen tude.”
In most cases, however, she said leaky plumbing is to blame.
“Toilet leaks are one of our biggest contributors to large water bills,” Read said. “It’s not abnormal to see high bills because of issues within the house. We try to reach out to the homeowners to identify that there is a problem occurring at the property.”
Since drawing attention to her excessive bill on Facebook, Bedard said other St. Catharines residents have begun questioning excessive bills they’ve received.
“Some have $2,000 or $3,000 bills, and they’re wondering why. I think I opened a can of worms,” she said. “If my meter was defective, there are others out there from the same batch that could be causing problems for other residents out there.”
As a result, Sorrento said he hopes some-
thing can be done “to ensure that this never happens again.”
“Let’s be a little proactive and make sure we can take steps to ensure that each and every meter is working properly,” he said.
Bedard pointed out one way of at least minimizing the impact.
If the city billed on a monthly basis, she said problems such as leaks or faulty meters could be identified much more quickly — before bills add up to $28,000.
“Shouldn’t they be reading it every month?
“For me, it just doesn’t make sense that all the sudden, four months after, it’s ‘OK, here’s your bill — $28,000. Deal with it,” she said.