Town responds to high utility bill complaints

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

At the town council meeting on Sept. 7, Mel Tiede, director of corporate services, updated council on how the town has been responding to utility bill complaints on social media.
According to Tiede, over the spring and summer there was some negative criticism of the utility department with respect to high utility bills.
“In the spring and summer months, customers find utility bills increase due to outdoor water usage,” he explained to council.
The town has just over 5,000 water meters in the community and each gets billed monthly for water usage.
In response to the recent complaints, the town is in the midst of sending out a “Be Water Wise” document to all customers over a one-month billing cycle, which started Aug. 26. Be Water Wise lists a number of steps and tips that property owners can use to help reduce water consumption, detect unnoticed water usage and perform regular checks.
Some tips include utilizing spray taps, low flush toilets and specific sprinklers for outside watering.
The town’s utility department has a protocol or list of steps to go through when discussing concerns that a customer has about a high utility bill. The town will check consumption patterns, suggest various water reduction ideas, offer to do leak reports, perform leak testing, update to newer meters and send old meters out for testing. The town has sent 22 water meters to be tested since 2011.
“One meter out of that group had been found faulty and an adjustment was made to the customer’s utility account at that time,” said Tiede, adding residents can have their meter tested at a cost of $100 which the town reimburses if the meter is found faulty.
The town has a meter replacement program in effect designed to update water meter efficiencies, and so far this year it has replaced 193 meters. Over the previous two years, 692 meters have been replaced.
Tiede expressed the importance of wise water consumption.
“With water becoming an ever increasingly important commodity, we need to do our part to conserve this important resource.”