You could say. For the third month in a row our water/sewer bill is $157.88. There has not been a penny’s worth of fluctuation from month to month.
That’s nonsense. The local water company admits that it estimates bills if it can’t get out to read meters, but this is ludicrous. I’m pretty sure I had a couple of really long showers sometime during September.
That doesn’t really seem fair… I mean to charge by meter, but then estimate willy-nilly.
Annoying, too. đ
I looked into this & that would not be legal in Pennsylvania.
Under PA Code § 65.7. Metered service,
” (d) Universal metering. A public utility shall provide a meter to each of its water customers except fire protection customers and shall furnish water service, except fire protection service, exclusively on a metered basis; except that flat rate service may continue to be provided pending implementation of a reasonable metering program or under special circumstances as may be permitted by the Commission for good cause.”
Thinking about this… I’ve never seen anything on any of my utility bills (in PA) about averages or estimates used to make a bill.
Though years ago I had an estimate/average on an electric bill – but it was connected to, IIRC, a first billing period, where there was some possible confusion/error involved in the transfer of services from one occupant to the next.
PA Code § 56.12. Meter reading; estimated billing; customer readings
“Except as provided in this section, a public utility shall render bills based on actual meter readings by public utility company personnel.”
“(2) Estimates for bills rendered on a monthly basis. If a public utility bills on a monthly basis, it may estimate usage of service every other billing month, so long as the public utility provides a customer with the opportunity to read the meter and report the quantity of usage in lieu of the estimated bill. The resulting bills must be based on the information provided, except for an account when it is apparent that the information is erroneous.”
This #(2) is probably most often a moot point because these days our electric company can apparently remotely read the meter.
Though I know that at least in some instances there are meter readers who go out to read meters. Perhaps periodically or if there’s a possible dispute.
On my electric bill, I’ve noticed “remote reading”. I’ll have to take a look at how often, if ever, it deviates.