Numerous residents across St. Charles Parish have taken to social media recently to comment on their monthly Waterworks charges, with some locals concerned after seeing significant fluctuations in their typical water billing.
Marcia Anderson, a 20-year parish resident, is one such citizen who recently noticed a roughly 33 percent higher bill than she normally receives for this time of year.
“My water bill has never really been over $70 to $75,” Anderson said of her typical water billing. “I don’t water my lawn, I don’t wash my cars, and all of a sudden as of the month they put in those new meters, my bill is over $100.”
Nina Whiting, another 20-year parish resident, says she had a similar billing experience, although she was unsure if her water meter had been converted to a digital meter or not recently.
“[My water bills] have been fine, and then last month, the charges just doubled,” Whiting said. “The consumption of water doubled, which makes no sense because we don’t have a pool, we’re not watering our yard – nothing has changed.”
Seeing an increase in residents commenting on their water bills, Parish President Matthew Jewell chimed in mid-July in a social media post regarding the parish’s water billing situation.
“This month some residents have seen higher bills, myself included. There are several factors that can contribute to higher-than-normal water usage – seasonal changes, dry weather, the number of days in the billing cycle, overall water wasting habits and yes, leaks,” Jewell said in his post. “Even small leaks such as a leaky toilet can rack up several thousands of gallons of consumption.”
The record-breaking heat this summer, Division B Councilwoman-At-Large Holly Fonseca mentioned, may in some cases also be in part to blame.
“Keep in mind – it’s hotter,” Fonseca said. “Some people may be filling their pools more regularly, watering flower beds and grass to keep them alive with all of this intense heat we’ve been experiencing…and, with implementing the new meter systems, the old meters were old and probably did not record usage as accurately as they should have.”
St. Charles Parish Waterworks is currently upgrading its roughly 22,000 water meters; around 82 percent of all meters have now been upgraded to digital meters, while 4,000 older manual water meters await upgrades. Waterworks employs six meter readers who typically read on average 400 reads per day of manual water meters, while an entire cycle of digital-read meters can be read in one day, giving the parish a speed, accuracy and cost advantage converting to digital meters.
“The Department of Waterworks is updating all of its processes to be in line with the 21st century technologies, and replacing water meters parish-wide to digital meters is only one part of that process,” Samantha de Castro, St. Charles Parish Director of Communications, said.
In all cases where consumption comes back 50 percent higher or lower than the previous month’s consumption, the account is automatically flagged, de Castro said, and the meter is physically re-read by a meter reader to ensure accuracy.
Parish officials said residents should reach out to the St. Charles Parish Waterworks by calling (985) 783-5110 or email them at service@scpwater.org if they believe they have been billed incorrectly.
Jewell is expected to formally address the Waterworks billing situation with additional information and commentary at the upcoming Monday, July 31 parish council meeting at 6 p.m.
“The company that manufactures the new smart meter, Master Meter, will [also] speak at our council meeting Monday,” Councilmember Dick Gibbs said. “They will address how the meters work and their rigorous testing and standards.”
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