Mystery flow
Exorbitant water bills puzzle residents of St Catherine gated community
Published:Sunday | July 18, 2021 | 12:51 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
It remains a mystery how Rosheda Richards’* monthly bill from the National Water Commission (NWC) skyrocketed to more than $100,000 in under a month – and for new premises unoccupied at the time – but the utility company is insisting the new resident of the gated Phoenix Park Village housing scheme in St Catherine must pay up ... or else.
Richards gawked at the embarrassment of being disconnected last Tuesday – already neighbours may have seen and identified representatives from the NWC scouting her premises probingly.
“How it going to look now if they hear that water commission cut off my water and I just move into the scheme?” she fumed, relaying how her dream home has become a box of nightmares.
“I got the house in November. I did not move in until April, but I was still paying the bills; the light was connected. The water was connected,” she said, explaining that her first water bill was sent to her in December.
That bill was $844 with consumption of zero. January’s bill was $1,000, she said, also with zero consumption. There was no bill in February, she said, noting that she almost fainted when she unfolded her water charges for March.
“March, now, I got a bill: $77,000; and I am like ‘what the hell!’. As I said, I had not moved into the property, the pipes outside didn’t have on any pipe cock, them bung! April, the bill reached $170,000 with consumption at 207. They must see that something wrong,” she stressed, adding that she wrote to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the entity instructed her to contact the NWC first.
CONTINUOUS FLOW
She said an NWC manager in Portmore physically inspected the property and reported no abnormalities on site. “She (manager) said she is going to have to do some checks and lab works with the meter. They have not removed the meter from the house, however,” Richards added, matter-of-factly. “When they got back to me, they are going to tell me that two weeks in February a continuous flow was observed.”
“Where the hell was the flow? I don’t know at all. I had not moved in here as yet but I came here regularly to check on the property. Every time I am leaving, say for instance I may use the toilet, I turn off the main pipe, so there is nothing left to leak,” she fumed, clutching the exorbitant bills and pipe stoppers in either hand as she spoke.
“This is a bill that commercial places, people with business get. I’m not one of those,” she said, noting, with interest, that since April after she moved in, monthly water bills have not surpassed $4,000 – this, without any repairs to plumbing in the house.
Still, the massive balance lingers, and the NWC is asking her to come in to make arrangements to pay. “How can I pay for something I did not use?” Richards pressed.
What’s worse is that Richards is not the only resident of the gated community faced with the odd billing situation. In a community WhatsApp group, other residents criticised the NWC’s billing process.
“I received high bills when my place was unoccupied and I made reports and nothing came out of it,” said one resident.
“I have the same issue. Sometimes I am not home and still, I am receiving high bills. I was not home for almost three weeks and my bill was the same as the month before. Customer service is foolishness, pure attitude and a long wait,” said another, referencing several emails that have been sent to the NWC about the issue.
MATTER CONCLUDED
“I don’t know what purpose the OUR serves. I thought they were for the people but as far as I am seeing it, they are toothless,” said Richards, whose issue, the OUR told The Sunday Gleaner, was not among those being dealt with currently.
“After the utility company has been contacted, and the customer is still not satisfied, then it is for them to make contact with the OUR again,” explained Elizabeth Bennett Marsh, public affairs specialist at the OUR.
Since 2019, there seems to be a growing number of complaints, particularly those relating to customers disgruntled about billing practices reaching the OUR.
In 2019, there were 4,190 joint utility complaints, 1,927 related to customer bills. Last year, the numbers were 6,345 and 3,109, respectively; while for the first quarter of 2021 there were 1,558 complaints, 818 of them had to do with discrepancies over bills received from utility companies.
In the interim, when contacted, the NWC failed to shed any further light on Richards’ situation. It also failed to respond to questions regarding the investigation of leaks off-site, and the fluctuation of bills each month. As far as the utility company is concerned, the probe into the case has concluded.
Curtly responding to the newspaper’s queries, the NWC said “we will again reach out to the customer with a view for her to address the issue of the concluded detailed investigations”. Nonetheless, “It should be borne in mind that we take seriously all concerns about billing and there are systems and procedures in place to both maintain the integrity of the billing system and to safeguard the interest of our valued customers.”
When pressed about the avoidance of this newspaper’s direct queries, Andrew Cannon, manager of corporate communications at NWC, said answering such questions about the billing cycle and the investigation of the case may jeopardise the contracts between customers and the NWC.
[* Name changed to protect identity]