MOOSE JAW — Homeowner Jane Unteriner is concerned about how city hall charges people for their water usage and wants officials to change the billing system so it aligns with the new smart water meters.
Unteriner reviewed her most recent water bill and compared it to past ones, where she discovered that there were differences in how the municipality charged homeowners.
She noted that, with the old analogue meter system, the city rounded a bill either up or down, whereas the new meters can read to five decimal places, but the city still uses the old billing system and doesn’t charge for actual.
Unteriner, 77, acknowledged that, with the new smart meters, she overpays by only a few dollars a year — “I’m on fixed income. It’s not going to kill me” — although that is still money out of her pocket and will likely be useful with an expected tax hike next year.
She was also concerned that the city “was coming up with a windfall” in revenue since there are thousands of other homes and buildings being overcharged the same way. This made her wonder where in the budget that excess revenue went or how the city used it.
“If they can read the meters to the fifth decimal place, why can’t they bill us the actual?” she added.
As of July 30, 2024, Neptune had replaced 11,184 water meters out of 12,560 devices, a completion rate of 89.04 per cent. The company expected to finish this year, although there would be a carryover into 2025 because of supply chain issues.
Meanwhile, as of this summer, there were 938 properties on a “soft refusal” list. These homeowners did not engage or communicate with Neptune or city hall about what they wanted to do. This could be because they did not see or receive the eight notices that both parties sent.
Among these soft refusals are 24 homeowners who have given a “hard refusal” to allow the devices’ installation. The engineering branch has been consulting with the in-house legal team about what options are available to address some homeowners’ health-related concerns with smart meters on their properties.
Unteriner says she went to city hall to discuss the matter and was told that “it’s the (software) system” that is the problem. She noted that the city would need to change its software program to bill customers the actual amount, although she didn’t think officials were interested in doing that.
“I’d like to see the city update its software for billing so it charges the actual amount … ,” she reiterated. “If they’re making everyone get new meters, then why not use the actual to charge people? I assume the technology is there.”
In an email to MooseJawToday.com, city hall said, “Diamond Utilities is our software system, and for billing purposes, the city employs a rounding system for three places after the decimal in your reading, meaning anything .500 and above is rounded up, and anything below .499 and below is rounded down.
“There is no ‘excess revenue’ from water meters as customers are charged for their usage at the established rate,” the email continued.
“The project is 89 per cent complete, and since installation began in 2022, there have been multiple instances where the smart meters have saved customers money by our ability to detect water leaks and provide immediate notification.”
Unteriner added that while the excess revenue being collected was probably not a large amount, because the money was still ending up in the city’s pocket, she wanted more accountability of how it was used and a newer billing system established.
