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Some Aucklanders are drowning in their latest water bills.
Photo: PIXABAY
Water charges went up 7 percent on 1 July.
But some customers whose bills have jumped hundreds of dollars are questioning the practice of estimating household usage rather than reading the actual meters.
Amanda Singleton is Watercare's chief customer officer and spoke to Checkpoint.
"Indeed, some customers' bills have gone up quite a bit, and that is because they would have more than one estimate between two actuals.
"The reality is, it's Covid. We had our meter readers were sick or if they weren't sick themselves they were in isolation or for some reason just couldn't get out and read the meters. We had to estimate in some instances even two or three times between two estimates."
Singleton defended the estimation of water bills, and said it "is actually quite accurate."
"But of course if for whatever reason your consumption behaviour between two actuals when we've estimated was different to what it was before, when we do the actual you would either get a higher than usual or lower than usual bill at that point."
One customer has told Checkpoint they had three estimated readings in a row.
Normally they use under 500 litres a day in the estimated readings, but in the latest actual reading it had jumped up to 3281 litres a day.
"In this instance it doesn't sound like it's just an estimation, for me it sounds like there's a leak on that customer's premises," Singleton said.
A report earlier this year estimated that a fifth of drinking water is lost to leaks.
"The reality is we do want to work with customers like that and we do with many customers every single month," she said.
"If they fix the leak very quickly and the consumption comes back to normal levels of consumption... we actually do give them a rebate for the water they haven't used but lost to a leak."
The same customer told Checkpoint they had emailed Watercare four weeks ago and hadn't heard back yet, which Singleton called "totally ridiculous."
Singleton said customers calling will get through quickly and customers emailing should get a response within 24 hours and the slow response was unacceptable.
"Four weeks is unheard of."
She said that the actual water usage readings are meant to provide a fuller picture for customers.
"The purpose of the actual is to actually correct under-estimations or over-estimations so it ensures that no customer pays for something they haven't used, or makes sure they pay for something they have used when they've been under-billed."
She said if surprise actual bills are a hardship for Watercare customers, arrangements can be made.
"I totally get it that to some customers that would be really hard to come by. We work with those customers again to agree a payment plan and we agree to spread those payments for up to six months."