Officials say old meters, leaks caused dramatic increases in monthly bills
NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- Newly installed meters are working properly, though problems with old meters may have contributed to some homeowners seeing spiked water bills, according to Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) officials.
Earlier this month, numerous customers complained to the utility and on social media pages, saying their bills as much as doubled and showed huge spikes of water use that they said made no sense. The bills coincided with new meters installed as part of CFPUA's multi-year program to replace 67,000 water meters in New Hanover County.
Robert Davis of Wilmington said the first bill he received after his meter was replaced was higher than normal. He shared his latest bill, which showed his water use averaging about 20,000 gallons every two months, then spiking to 30,000 gallons in July and August, 35,000 for September and October, then 43,000 gallons for November and December.
"I paid it, and the next month it was higher again," Davis said. "I'm more suspicious of the meter than if I have a leak."
Other residents protested in unique ways. Scott McKinnon, for example, sent CFPUA a payment equal to an average of his last several payments.
"If I'm concerned that I didn't use the water, what fairer way is there to try to settle it?" he said.
In response, CFPUA dedicated customer service representatives to handle calls specific to the issue and tested roughly 20 of the new meters.
"They all checked out fine," Carel Vandermeyden, director of engineering at CFPUA, said of the new meters. "They all tested exactly as specified where they needed to be."
He said the utility, as of Tuesday, had received 141 calls about the issue. Of those, 68 weren't part of the meter replacement program, did not have spiked bills or were just curious to see if the issue could be applied to their bills. Leaks were found at six homes and those residents were notified of the leak, Vandermeyden said.
He said two customers saw bills escalated because of an error in transmitting information from the old meter to the billing system.
"It was fat fingers, if you will," Vandermeyden said.
Nine others saw spiked bills because electronic communicators on old meters had slowed and were sending inaccurately low readings, he said. When the new meters were installed, the mechanical reader sent an accurate reflection of water used over several previous months, resulting in what looked like a sudden increase in use.
For those nine, CFPUA adjusted bills to an average amount from the last several billing cycle, said Kristi Irick, director of customer service at CFPUA.
The utility was still investigating bills for 34 customers as of late Tuesday, Vandermeyden said.
Reporter Tim Buckland can be reached at 910-343-2217 or Tim.Buckland@StarNewsOnline.com.