WRONGLY BILLED? More Douglas ratepayers challenge smart water meter usage accounts

WATER BILLS

David Gardiner

Journalist

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Newsport has asked Council if its ‘smart’ meters are the correct type and are suitable for the far north weather. Pic: Submitted

More Douglas ratepayers are coming forward with what they believe are wrongful water charges, after closely examining their water bills and disputing what they believe they have and haven’t used.

The owner of a block of vacant residential land close to the Port Douglas CBD has told Newsport that she was very surprised to receive a bill from Council charging her for the use of tens of thousands of litres of water – when there was nobody there.

The property owner, who has asked that her name remains withheld for privacy reasons, said she followed up the discrepancy after noticing the dramatic spike in her “apparent” water usage at the block over several days in January – around the same time that Council was having major problems with the water supply after Cyclone Jasper.

She called Council and complained, then followed up the call with an email to them, including screenshots of the apparent water usage from her ‘MiWater’ account. (pictured below).

The ratepayer said that a Council officer responded at first that she “must have” used the water but then also suggested that the water “might have been used by someone else or stolen.”

Our contact, who also told us that there have been no leaks detected at the bock, has refuted the idea of possible theft of water, or possible use by neighbours.

“I mean if you left the hose on the street would be flooded,” she said. 

The block, she added, is fenced and gated, and neighbours would most certainly have let her know if something untoward was taking place such as the water being stolen.

“I think we’re being charged for the line being re-pressurised or something like that, rather than actually using water.”

She also sent us (and Council) screenshots of a similar, vacant property elsewhere in Douglas Shire owned by her father-in-law, who experienced similar water usage discrepancies last year, not long after his new ‘smart’ water meter had been installed.

“There were about 30,000 litres apparently used on his vacant land, where he actually keeps the water shut off because he is not using it.”

More questions to Council

Newsport has sent a list of questions to Douglas Shire Council over the latest cases of apparent overcharging through Council’s smart water meters. 

In our previous story on the issue recently, then mayor Michael Kerr said: “Since March 2022 we have received 85 smart water meter fault investigation requests received from the public. Nine meters were replaced and 17 service repairs were conducted,” he admitted.

“A further 13 enquiries are still under investigation.”

This time, we’ve also asked Council whether the particular model or models of meter chosen for this region – believed to be Honeywell brand – have encountered technical problems and are indeed suitable for the far north tropical climate.

We have also put to them if any refunds have been made or are being considered.

Honeywell’s own installation instructions, referring to at least three of its popularly used models used by many councils, even clearly states that "the meter must be fully flooded with clean cold water at all times. No air or water/air mixtures should be allowed to flow through the meter, otherwise errors and damage may result."

Our ratepayer contact, and many others who have complained to or are planning to take the matter up with Council, have reported that the water bill discrepancies seem to have occurred during times when Council was repairing mains and pipelines after the December flooding.

We are waiting to hear back from Council within the next day or two, having asked that our questions be addressed directly to CEO Rachel Brophy, and will bring you a further report looking at their responses.

More ratepayers are questioning discrepancies between their actual water usage and water bills they’re receiving from Council. Pic: Submitted

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