Detroiters face $30 monthly fee for refusing to accept upgraded water meters

BY STEVE NEAVLING
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


An ambitious four-year plan to upgrade water meters in the roughly 250,000 houses and businesses in Detroit is facing a flood of resistance from residents.

By year's end, the city is hoping to install upgraded water meters that are more accurate and efficient than past ones.

But nearly a third of Detroit homeowners -- about 60,000 -- continue to ignore letters and knocks from the city's Water and Sewerage Department and are now facing penalties of up to $30 a month, city officials told the Free Press last week.

"It can be very hard to reach people," said Terry Craig, a water meter foreman who has knocked on countless doors in the past three years to install the meters. "It can be frustrating, but you keep going out and get as many meters installed as possible."

Since the deadline to install new meters passed for the vast majority of Detroit at the end of 2010, teams of city water workers are now knocking on doors but are finding many residents who are defiant or not home.


Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110320/NEWS01/103200513/Detroiters-face-30-monthly-fee-refusing-accept-upgraded-water-meters?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

If the City is serious about wanting to ave money, they should go back to quarterly billing. This monthly stuff is for the birds. Three times the work means higher costs for the consumer.

How about on-line bill pay?

There are alot of reason for not wanting to switch out a water meter, most it I think has to do with convience. There is no incentive for the person to do it, why should they wait home all day for someone to show up.

The other issue, people just don't want anyone going in their home to do any type of work, and you also got people out there who have tampered with the meter, or know their meter is innaccurate.

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Originally Posted by CLAUDE G

There are alot of reason for not wanting to switch out a water meter, most it I think has to do with convience. There is no incentive for the person to do it, why should they wait home all day for someone to show up.

The other issue, people just don't want anyone going in their home to do any type of work, and you also got people out there who have tampered with the meter, or know their meter is innaccurate.

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I had my meter changed a couple of months ago here in LP. The installer showed proper ID. I stayed with him while he did his work. No problems.
A $30.00 a month fee should be enough incentive to make a appointment. And if you tampered with the meter, you are stealing from everyone who uses water and it's time to pay up. We had group of city workers who got caught with altered water meters and they got fired. The losses are spread to those who pay what is owed.

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Originally Posted by 313rd

How about on-line bill pay?

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How about online bill pay every three months? :) Online paying was just intorduced a couple of months back.

As far as sending someone out, I was able to get someone out on a saturday morning. They have reasonably flexible windows. Though they did strong arm me a bit to get it installed. I heard about this several years back that it was going to be done in six months. Years went by heard nothing. Then all of a sudden they are telling me that if I don't do it they are going to start charging me $30 a month just to read my meter and that I was not answering any correspondence from them [[I got no letters, phone calls, knocks at the door....)