(This article appears in a different version in the March print edition of the Hendersonian.)
The Henderson Water Utility intends to hire an employee whose main responsibility is to monitor water usage so that similar incidents the led to the issuance of “catch-up bills” never occur again, said the utility’s general manager.
Bart Boles told the Hendersonian that HWU will look to get approval from its board, the Henderson Water and Sewer Commission, before the end of the fiscal year with the hope of having the position filled in July. He said the job is a dedication “to make sure usage is correct.”
The plan move comes in response to a mistake in the transmission of water usage of 2,234 customers that will cause them to pay catch-up bills after the utility undercharged what they owed for months.
Boles said the new employee will monitor all water usage in HWU’s system, including small and large meters, residential and commercial. Boles believes the position would be able to catch leaks as well as other errors.
The catch-up bills were instituted after HWU found that it had been undercharging some customers for months after newly installed water meters that hadn’t been programmed were incorrectly transmitting water usage to the HWU system and the billing department. A 3,000-gallon water usage, for example, was showing at the billing department as 300 gallons, effectively creating a bill that was 10% of what it should have been.
Boles said in a Feb. 20 interview that as HWU continues to go through the data, the mistake has created catch-up bills of $240 for those on the low end and $300 for those on the high end.
He did not have an exact number of the total money of all the catch-up bills combined. Using the numbers above as a guide and multiplying by 2,234 customers leaves $536,160 on the low end and $670,200 on the high end for the total amount of all catch-up bills.
In some cases, the bills with incorrect usage go back to July. HWU has said that the errors began after the utility switched vendors that were supplying new water meters. The vendor that HWU had received the first 6,000 water meters had programmed them to transmit correctly before delivering them to HWU. But the second vendor didn’t program the water meters. Neither HWU nor the vendor, Core & Main, knew the programming needed to occur, which ultimately led to the incorrect bills.
Boles said HWU will hold a meeting in March with both the initial vendor, United Systems, and Core & Main. He added the utility is ensuring everything is in place so a similar occurrence can never happen again.
“This isn’t going to happen again,” Boles said.
He said HWU has 3,000 new water meters left to install, and that work should start late summer or early fall. He said HWU will inspect each meter before it is installed.
As of the end of February, 600 affected customers have received their catch-up bills. Boles said the 1,600 remaining bills should arrive to affected customers within two months.
Finally, the city of Henderson announced Tuesday an agreement with the Henderson Christian Community Outreach to administer a fund set up to assist residents who may have problems paying the HWU catch-up bills.
The $50,000 fund includes $25,000 funding from both the city and HWU. The program will offer up to $200 assistance to HWU customers who are at or below 130% of the federal poverty line, according to a release from the city.
To apply for assistance, eligible residents are encouraged to contact Henderson Christian Community Outreach at (270) 826-5592.
