When properly maintained, city of Atlanta water meters are nearly 100 percent accurate in their billing, according to a report by the department of watershed management.
The department this week released a 71-page study in response to an increase in complaints for residents who say waters bills have been spiking, despite normal usage.
The city sampled around 9,000 water meters for accuracy and found “no indication of mathematical or computation errors in the billing system.”
So what's causing the spikes? The report didn't directly address the question, but Dexter White, the interim commissioner of the department, will hold a press conference Wednesday to fully discuss the “Meter and Billing Accuracy Assessment.”
In his executive summary, White reported that 96 percent of the time, the randomly selected meters transmitted accurate billing data, although a quarter of the antennas used to transmit that information were improperly installed.
“Current information suggests that the billing system accurately calculates customer billing statements based on consumption data received from the metering system,” the report stated. “However, there are several areas of improvement needed to ensure the metering and billing processes perform optimal levels.”
The report came up with a list of 22 recommendations including:
-- Putting laptops in field vehicles to get a better response to complaints.
-- Limiting automatically generated estimated bills to only one a year.
-- Revising the existing meter maintenance plan to increase the number of meter health assessments.
-- Improving customer outreach to include educating customers on rate structure and water conservation.
None of that helps Hollis Stephens today. A recent transplant from Tallahassee, Stephens said he was used to paying about $10 a month for water. Now he is paying about $90 a month, although his last bill was over $150, for his home in the Fort McPherson area.
“It is crazy,” Stephens said. “I have a wife and two children. We take a shower every night. We're not home during the day and we still paying a hundred bucks a month for water.”
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