Customer concerned over higher CFPUA water bill

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) –The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority is taking a closer look at their meter replacement program after a slew of customer complaints. For some customers new meters means new bills that are higher than usual.

“We don’t use anymore water than the average family of four does, so to get hit with bills like 241,000 gallons, that’s about one third of an olympic swimming pool,” CFPUA customer James Kadnar said.

Kadnar has received bills from the CFPUA for more than $1,000. He said this happened after the CFPUA switched his meter to a newer digital one.

Currently the CFPUA has replaced more than 20,000 meters.

“An older meter will slow down over time and it may not register all of the consumption actually going through the meter. So once the new meter is in the ground it is going to pick up more of the low flow that is occuring so they may see a higher bill,” CFPUA Director of Customer Service Kristi Irick said.

Kadnar said before switching back to an old meter CFPUA told him to check for leaks as a possible reason for spiked bills.

“I’m a retired fireman. I’ve dealt with water leaks, water mains, sprinkler leaks and that kind of stuff as well as doing plumbing and for their answers that I must have a leak within my house I would have no sheet rock left, we would have no hardware flooring down. We would pretty much have a moat for 41,000 gallons of water,” Kadnar said.

Kadnar isn’t the only one complaining. The CFPUA has now dedicated a staff to address customers concerns and review the new meter system. They have also quit installing the new meters, for now.

Kadnar said he has been battling with CFPUA for a while trying to get past bills adjusted but hasn’t had any luck so far.

CFPUA’s Director of Customer Service told us she didn’t have details at the moment about Kadnar’s bill.

CFPUA said, “CFPUA is working with our customers during the meter replacement program. To date, CFPUA has replaced and updated 20,000+ meters. During the span of the meter replacement program, CFPUA received few customer billing concerns. However, during the last few days, some customers have come forward to express concerns about higher than usual water bills. CFPUA values their feedback as part of our quality control process.

As a result of the number of inquiries from water customers, CFPUA has dedicated customer service staff and engineering staff to research the issue. The team will look at three different areas to understand the cause:

1. Staff will review the new meter system.  CFPUA is examining the new system to understand if anything related to this new system is causing the spike. The new system has several internal quality control checks, and staff will be reviewing those.

2. Staff will evaluate data quality. There are several processes associated with reconciling data collected in the old system with new meter readings. CFPUA will review the various process steps and look for any points of failure in the procedure.

3. Staff will review the old meter system. Since the older meters also had aging data transmitters, CFPUA is interested in researching the accuracy of the information transmitted to our systems.

CFPUA contracts with Pedal Valves to install and replace old meters. Pedal Valves notifies customers when they replace a meter. They inform the customer in person if the customer is home and available. If telling a customer in person is not possible, the contractor will leave a door hanger notification. In the meantime, we have asked the meter replacement contractor to suspend installing new meters until we research customer concerns.

If you have recently had a meter changed and are concerned about your bill, please contact CFPUA. Each customer concern will be reviewed individually. Additionally, CFPUA will not assess late penalties for CFPUA customers who recently had a meter change and are concerned about their bill. CFPUA will err on the side of the customers as we work through these issues.

If you have concerns about your water bill, please contact CFPUA. You can connect with us by phone at 910-332-6550. You can also reach us via the online form: http://www.cfpua.org/customercare. Thank you for your patience while we research customer concerns. We will provide updates as we learn and understand more about customer concerns.”