Question: I just received my water bill, which has a $7.02 billing charge. But it says the bill is an estimate. No one came to read our meter, so why do we still have to pay a billing charge? HECO doesn’t have a billing charge, Oceanic doesn’t have a billing charge, the Gas Co. doesn’t have a billing charge. Maybe the Board of Water Supply can learn from them how to camouflage that billing charge.
Answer: Even if your bill is estimated, a meter reader did go to your home to try to get a reading, according to the BWS.
Initially a meter reader tries to get a reading “through a drive-by process,” collecting readings on a computer via radio signals while driving by, explained spokeswoman Tracy Burgo.
Sometimes the radio signals can’t be picked up, because of rainy weather or other environmental conditions, or because the meters are physically obstructed by objects or need repair or maintenance, she said.
In that case a meter reader will visit the site. If a manual reading can’t be made, Burgo said, BWS then will estimate your bill based on recent average water use.
As to why the billing charge is not “camouflaged,” Burgo said the water utility is a government agency “that needs to promote transparency in the way customers are billed.”
Because of that, she said, the BWS always has had a “billing” — aka “customer” — charge separate from its water usage charge.
BWS’ “billing charge” is what HECO and Hawai‘i Gas (formerly The Gas Co.) refer to as their “customer charge,” and the two terms are often used interchangeably, she said.
With a billing charge, the BWS is able to separately charge for its two principal components of costs: customer cost and water usage cost.
Customer costs are fixed or uniform costs associated with furnishing water service, regardless of whether any water is used, and covers meter reading, billing and other costs that the BWS incurs equally per customer or account, Burgo said.
It includes current and future costs of the utility’s and Department of Environmental Service’s new billing system; costs to collect, process and mail billing information and process payments; current and future meter maintenance and repair costs; the costs of customer service and finance personnel, including a secure “lockbox” payment service; and future improved payment services, such as online bill payment.
The water usage cost includes all costs associated with producing and delivering water to customers and covers staff operations and maintenance, minus costs covered by the billing/customer charge, Burgo said.
Charges to rise
Brace yourself for higher billing charges. Beginning July 1 the now-monthly fee goes up to $7.70; to $8.44 on July 1, 2014; then to $9.26 on July 1, 2015.
In January 2012, when bills were sent out every two months, the fee was $6.40, increasing to $7.02 six months later. BWS began sending monthly bills this year.
Both the billing/customer charge and water usage charge are part of the BWS’ overall rate schedule, and any increases are subject to approval by BWS’ board of directors, not any outside entity.
The most recent rate schedule was approved in a public board meeting in November 2011, Burgo said.
You can find more information on the BWS website, www.hbws.org. Click on “frequently asked questions” under “Monthly Billing for Water and Wastewater Service” in the center of the homepage.
Mahalo
To three people who jumped from their tables and rushed to help a man having a seizure at the IHOP restaurant in Aiea on March 1. They didn’t know him or each other. I don’t know their names but they are heroes. — Kitty Hogan, Portland, Ore.
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