Drowning in water bills! - Residents of apartment complex baffled by over $200,000 monthly bills; frustrated by NWC actions

Senior citizen Roy Meikle is beyond frustrated because he does not understand why his water bill has jumped from on average $3,000 monthly to over $200,000 each month, despite the fact that more than one plumber have found that he has no leakage.

The 80-year-old resident of Strata #53, Central Acadia Court in St Andrew, said that his efforts to get an answer from the National Water Commission (NWC) has only added to his frustration.

"The last one I got was $232,733 and I live alone," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

"I am in the country mostly, and when I am leaving here, there is a lock-off, and so I lock off the water completely, so there is no water coming into the building."

Meikle said that he noticed his bill gradually increasing from about June last year until it eventually got to over $200,000.

He said that three different plumbers have concluded after conducting checks at his two-bedroom flat that there were no leakages.

"I have made several complaints to the Water Commission and they have done nothing about it. They send people up here to look and see and they still don't find any leak, and I am still getting that bill," he said.

"Don't care how you go down there and talk to them, they would just say, 'we are going to send somebody there to check it because there must be a leak somewhere'."

In fact, he is not the only resident on the complex who is having issues with the NWC.

Despite spending over $1 million to hire plumbers, change pipes, and install individual meters for the 24 apartments on the premises, residents of the strata complex are upset that they continue to receive a water bill amounting to over $200,000 monthly for the general area.

Property manager Lois Grant said that the monthly bill for the complex's general area has always come to over $200,000. However, they thought they would have seen some difference when they installed individual meters for each apartment in May 2016.

Grant said that the water bill for the general area reduced drastically to between $10,000 and $20,000 each month following the changes, but then they started to receive bills amounting to over $200,000 a couple months later. Grant said that she then contacted the NWC to get an explanation.

"The person that I dealt with told me that, well, it was an oversight on their part. It's like the right hand never knew what the left hand was doing, so wherever the billing was coming from, they didn't realise that individual meters were put in," she said.

She said that in spite of the ongoing dialogue with the company, the water bill hardly reflected any changes in the amount. The NWC eventually sent someone to the premises to check, and Grant said that they were informed that there were leakages, and a leak detector was recommended by the NWC employee.

The property manager said that the leak detector showed leakage was observed in one of the apartments and the general area and offered to fix them at a cost.

However, the leak detector concluded that there was no leakage in Meikle's apartment.

INDEPENDENT PLUMBER FOUND NO LEAK

Grant said that she then got an independent plumber, who said that he did not detect any leakages. Even so, she said that she went ahead and changed the pipes in the general area.

"I still keep getting these horrendous bills," she said.

Among the NWC personnel she contacted was vice-president for Divisional Operations - East, Michael Dunn.

"He asked me to send all the bills that I have incurred through hiring plumbers and fixing pipes, and I sent him all of them and he said that he would give me a concession and work out a payment plan," she said.

"However, to date, I have not got a concession and I have got another bill that was $212,000."

But Dunn told The Sunday Gleaner that a concessionary amount of $60,110.45 was granted on February 26, 2018, based on the submission of repair bills sent by Grant.

Individual Meters

He said that although individual meters were installed at Central Acadia Court, investigations conducted by the NWC have shown an abnormal consumption between October 2017 and February 2018. Consumption increased to 266 and 293 cubic litres for December 2017 and January 2018, respectively. The average usage prior to October 2017 was 45 cubic litres.

"While we prefer not to disconnect our customers, we are unable to continue providing the service to Ms Grant and her tenant indefinitely, who demonstrate no willingness to pay the balance owing of $232,733.92 which accumulated since October 2016," he said.

Grant maintains that she has not obtained a concession and has not received a breakdown of her bill, despite asking for one on more than one occasion. She said her last bill was sent via text message, and as such, she has been deprived of an opportunity to assess her balance and water usage.

"We have not gotten any breakdown of what I have paid," said the property manager.

nadine.wilson@gleanerjm.com