Hike in water bills angers Corporate Area residents

Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter

A number of persons from the Corporate Area are raising concerns about drastic hikes in their National Water Commission (NWC) bills since the company installed new meters at their premises.

One resident in Vineyard Town, Kingston, said her bill, which was normally in the range of $6,000, has jumped to $18,000 since the new meter was installed two months ago.

"I can't see through this! I went to the office and asked them to check my meter and they come and said they check and the meter is OK, but I don't understand the huge jump," she said.

"I am planning to watch and see if it will continue because I can't manage it and if it is the same thing next month, I will be going back to them," the resident added.

Another resident said she was surprised by the significant increase in her monthly bill, which has moved from a little more than $1,000 to just under $4,000.

"Is robbery! Dem can't treat poor people so because them know seh people don't want dem water to be disconnected, so we will do all in our powers to pay it," the resident said.

functioning meters, higher bill

But the director of communications for the NWC, Charles Buchanan, said the customers were sensitised about NWC's mission to replace meters that were not functioning or under-registering and with this they would have seen an increase to their charges.

"Some meters, because of the age, were under-registering; that is, persons were using more water than the meter was capturing and so it stands to reason that an accurate new meter, which will now capture all the usage on a particular premise, will show a higher consumption that would have been shown by the previous under registering meter," he said.

He added, "We have clearly listed to persons that they are likely to see an increase based on the readings from this new meter than meters that have long outlived their useful life."

Buchanan said it is imperative that persons take appropriate steps to reduce their water usage so that their bills would remain in an affordable range.