Watercare admits up to 16,000 of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters were faulty. Photo: Supplied / Watercare
Watercare has issued a public apology - via RNZ's Checkpoint - to a user facing an estimated $800 water bill, due to a faulty meter.
The water provider now admits up to 16,000 of its 40,000 EDMI smart meters around Auckland are faulty, generating zero bills and leading to substantial catch-up bills.
Two weeks ago, Lizzie from the North Shore told Checkpoint about a $410 bill that she refused to pay, until it was "based in fact and not just plucked out of the air".
She subsequently received another, even bigger bill that equated to using 4342 litres of water a day. The Browns Bay couple now face a combined bill of about $1200.
"This has gone beyond being mildly irritating," Lizzie said. "I can't figure out where this has come from.
"I went back through our previous bills - our monthly water usage is somewhere between $65-75. The most it's ever been was $85 over a Christmas/New Year period.
"I can't figure out why they're saying we must pay our overdue accounts immediately to avoid further action, when they were the ones that agreed we should cancel our direct debit, because the previous bill was over the time.
"I don't know what's going on. I can't figure out how anyone could use this amount of water.
"They don't value their customers, do they?"
Checkpoint host Lisa Owens was able to pass on a message from Watercare.
"They say they have made a mistake, and they'll get in touch with you directly to apologise and sort this," she said. "They said they sincerely apologise for the inconvenience to you, and they will get you a new water meter and sort out that large bill, which is an estimation."
Lizzie responded emotionally: "I want to say thank you to you, but it shouldn't have come to this, should it?
"Could you imagine a small business trying to operate this way - they wouldn't survive.
"I'm really grateful for what you've done for me ... really, really grateful."
Watercare admitted to Checkpoint it had made a mistake with the estimation, blaming a processing error by the service agent. It said it would re-assess the charge in line with past water consumption at that address.
Of the 16,000 fault meters, 13,672 have been shifted to manual reading and the balance are scheduled to move to manual reading.
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