METER ACCURACY DISPUTE RESOLUTION
a) Any Owner may request the Water Department, as stated in Section 8, paragraph, No. 6 of the Town’s Rules and Regulations for Consolidated Water District No. 1, to make a special test of the accuracy of a meter. The test shall be made in accordance with the standard regulations of the AWWA (American Water Works Association).
b) In the case of a disputed account involving the accuracy of a meter, such meter will be tested by the Water Department upon the request of the Owner. The testing may be witnessed by the Owner or an Owner authorized representative.
c) If the Owner still disputes the findings, the Owner may have an approved meter testing company test the meter at the Owner’s expense. If the meter is found to register erroneously against the Owner by more than 2%, the cost of testing the meter will be paid by the Town and the Owner account will be adjusted. If, however the meter is found to be within a 2% allowance and/or registers lower than the allowable percentage loss, the Owner will be responsible for all payments and the matter concluded. The Water Department shall retain the meter at issue until all procedures have finished and the issue settled. The following outside meter testing companies are approved for testing of meters.
Independent Meter Companies
National Metering Services
163 Schuyler Ave
Kearny, NJ 07032
(201) 246-1115
North American Meter Incorporated
500 N Main St
Port Chester, NY 10573
(914) 937-1314
Credit for High Water Bills (Due to Leak)
To encourage Owners to make repairs to equipment on their property that is leaking water, such as plumbing fixtures, irrigation systems, and pools, the Water Department will provide a one-time credit to water bills with excess water usage attributable to confirmed leakage. The leak allowance credit is only available to non-commercial customers.
Allowance Credit
a) An allowance credit is applied to an Owner’s bill if the Owner receives a water bill measuring quarterly consumption that exceeds at least 4 times the average consumption for the same historical billing period and such excess consumption is demonstrated to be the result of a leak within the property. The credit will be assigned to the portion of the billed water consumption that exceeds the highest quarterly consumption within the Owners history data on file for the same quarter in question. Credit will be calculated by subtracting 1) the sum of: (a) the billing amount which would be applicable to the highest quantity of water billed to that customer in the past at the customer’s address for the same quarter as the disputed bill; (b) an amount equal to the excess consumption quantity billed at the NYC purchased water rate for the quarter of the disputed bill; plus (c) the Water Department’s direct variable costs (other than water) of treating and distributing the water, such as chemicals and electric costs of distribution, for the quarter of the disputed bill, from 2) the amount of the disputed bill.
An allowance credit will only be applied when a request has been received in writing by the Commissioner of Public Works. The Owner shall provide documentation to the Commissioner of Public Works sufficient to clearly identify the source of the leak. Documentation shall include proof of repair from a licensed tradesman along with a statement from the licensed tradesman estimating the quantity of water lost. The Commissioner shall be the sole judge in determining the validity of such documentation of excess usage. Any leakage allowance credit, if granted, will be for not more than one billing period and will only be permitted once to the Owner or any related Owner at the same location.
The allowance credit policy will be terminated once the final installation of the Town’s new metering system is installed, as this system will have the ability to recognize water leaks within a 24 to 48 hour period. Following installation of the new metering system, the Owner will now have the capability to recognize any apparent leak and all risk of loss on the Owner side of the meter shall be borne by the Owner.
PAUL FEINER