No mercy shown for wild water bills
If this city has legal authority to show mercy to customers whose water bill suddenly spikes for no good reason, why doesn’t it do it?
That’s a question raised in emails we’ve got from readers about huge, one-time increases in their bill, not caused by an equivalent jump in consumption or a leak in their plumbing.
Since our Monday column about a tenfold increase in Jessica Duce’s bill for the last quarter of 2014 — from about $350 to $3,674 — many readers told us they’ve gotten similar bills that didn’t square with their water usage.
Some said the city was totally inflexible about the bill, no matter how they argued that their fixtures weren’t leaking, and that they couldn’t possibly have used so much water. Ombudsman Fiona Crean produced a report on water billing, metering and customer service in 2012, which included a key recommendation: “The city amend the Municipal Code so that Revenue Services has discretion, based on a set of criteria and on a case-by-case basis, to adjust the account of a customer who has experienced a sudden large increase in water consumption not explained by a meter test or leak check.”
City council voted to implement all recommendations in Crean’s report, but it seems like the onus remains on customers to prove they didn’t use the water.
Toronto Revenue Services says the city continues to work with residents to investigate each and every complaint thoroughly
Duce’s quarterly water bill has consistently been about $350, but she says the city’s approach since she first complained about the increase to $3,674 in late January has been to persuade her that she used the water.
“I have on many occasions called the city to both inquire and complain that something is wrong with the billing,” said Helen Sriubiskis, who tracks her daily consumption on an Excel spreadsheet.
“They always point the blame back onto me, saying that something must be leaking to cause these consumption amounts.”
Joanna Soaresi said she called the city several times after her quarterly bill jumped from about $150 to $1,300, “and it was always the same answer. ‘Ma’am, you are responsible for the water that you consume.’ ”
But Toronto Revenue Services, which administers water billing, says “the city continues to work with residents to investigate each and every complaint thoroughly.” A spokesperson outlined measures to alert customers to jumps in usage, including a letter sent when it triples, the right to request an investigation and a dispute resolution process. It also says it gets about 1,000 billing complaints annually and adjusts the bill for about 300 customers. Monday: Why it’s easier than you think to use hundreds of dollars in water without realizing it. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or call us at 416-869-4823 email jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.