Friday, October 11, 2002
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Friday, October 11, 2002 |
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Meter reading snafu leads to water, sewer bill spike for some PTC residents By JOHN
MUNFORD Due to incorrectly read water meters, a number of Peachtree City residents received higher than normal water and sewer bills for the month of September. The billing irregularity is limited to just one meter reading route that serves up to 2,200 customers, according to Tony Parrott of the Fayette County Water System. Some of the bills were correct, Parrott noted. The problem occurred when the meter reader on the route misread the meters on the low side for bills issued in August. When those meters were read again for September's billing cycle, some customers "got a higher bill" than they normally would have, Parrott said. None of the customers have been overcharged, Parrott said. The meter reader who made the mistake has since resigned, Parrott confirmed. "We know he didn't read part of the route but he also read part of the route," Parrott said. The billing error also affected the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority's bills since the Fayette County Water System bills customers for WASA since the same water usage figures are used to calculate sewer bills. Customers with billing questions are urged to call the water system's customer service line at 770-461-1146, ext. 6450. The water system is in the final phase of a project to install new water meters that will eliminate the need for manual reading of each meter, Parrott said. Instead, the new meters will broadcast the reading on a radio signal to a computer in a passing vehicle. The information will be saved on the computer and later downloaded to the billing system, Parrott said. Once the final phase of installations wraps up in December, all but two of the water system's meter reading routes will be using the radio signal system to "read" water meters, Parrott said. The water system plans to seek bids from companies to install approximately 1,600 more of the devices next year, which will "finish" the system, Parrott said.
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