The town of Upton will now be offering payment plans for residents who find themselves with unexpectedly high water – water/sewer bills related to unknown leaks or issues with the external reader. DPW Director Jeff Thompson presented the proposed policy change at the January 21 Selectmen meeting hoping the policy would alleviate some of the financial hardship some water – water/sewer customers face.
Thompson noted an undetected leak could add thousands of gallons of water usage to a bill, “A toilet flapper which is not properly seated can go through 8 thousand gallons of water a day.” If the leak continued for a month this would result in a much larger bill.
Some customers faced billing issues when the external meter wasn’t functioning properly according to Thomas. The internal meter was working but the external device was not capturing the usage properly. When the discrepancy was discovered the customer was billed for the water used.
Thompson said, “Some bills have been as high as 7 to 10 thousand dollars. For example if someone has had a leak for a long time which hadn’t been reflected in the external device we read that can represent a 7 to 10 thousand dollar bill.”
Before the proposed payment plan a customer in this situation would have to pay the bill in whole within 30 days or pay 14% APR interest rate and potentially risk having a lien filed on their home if they did not make the payment.
Now if a customer is placed in the situation of having a huge bill they can contact the DPW to authenticate the large water – water/sewer bill is related to either a leak or issue with the external reader. Once this is verified the treasurer/collector will negotiate a payment plan with the customer.
The proposal was approved unanimously by the Upton Selectmen on January 21 2014.
UPTON DAILY 