SYSTEM FAILURE
One in 100 bills were wrong
In the wake of numerous complaints of exorbitant water overbilling, a city official said Thursday that Calgary water meters have been faulty one per cent of the time.
The problem exists in the meters’ transmission of information to the billing receivers, said Rob Spackman, the city’s water director.
“One per cent of the time, the electronic reader doesn’t get picked up,” Spackman told the city’s auditing committee.
“In the vast majority of cases, in the next month, the reader is picked up and we then flag (it.)”
Another city official said city data sometimes “is telling us there’s not a meter there,” when in fact there is one present.
City auditors have said interruptions in transmitting that usage information has led to lags in billing that then show up later in customers’ larger invoices.
Some of those customers have claimed they’ve received water and wastewater bills of up to $4,000 a month, many times more than what they’d normally be charged.
Some said they’d been away from home during those billing periods and couldn’t have used any water. They also note that while at home, they consumed no more than usual.
On Wednesday, city council voted to waive those exorbitant bills and review why they’ve occurred to ensure overbilling isn’t repeated.
Similar recommendations in ferreting out problems were adopted by the audit committee Thursday.
Even with that one-per-cent figure, the scope of the problem affecting a small portion of Calgary water users is still unclear, said Coun. Evan Woolley, audit committee chairman.
“The order of magnitude of these discrepancies, I’m not sure what that physical number is,” said Woolley. “Where the system has failed, there’s a significant amount of work on how mistakes were made and to fix them.”
Most important for now, he said, is ensuring those who’ve been overcharged are reimbursed and that they only pay their normal monthly amount.
The city audit stated inaccuracies in individual billing could produce hardships for customers and compromise the city’s reputation.
“The audit determined the water utility’s current controls and process provide only partial effectiveness in supporting the business objective that the water billing conducted by Enmax is complete and accurate,” stated a report.
Audit committee member Sean Chu told city water officials it’s imperative that whatever’s ailing the system be resolved.
“If we don’t address that concern and fix it, it’ll keep coming back; I guarantee it,” he said.
Woolley said he’s confident the reviews will put an end to the overbilling.
But he also said the results of the auditing process are good news.
“The auditing process has done exactly what it’s supposed to do,” he said.
Where the system has failed, there’s a significant amount of work on how mistakes were made and to fix them.