Silex Water Works

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/04) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] City Admin
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@gmail.com
Response to complaint of being overcharged for utility's bill. We are working diligently with the Missouri Department of...

Natural Resources on our water and sewer projects. Due to inclement weather and meeting with the State of Missouri the water and sewer director was unable to read meters for the billing cycle of 03/03/2015, which forced the City to estimate with our computer estimating system / program. The user was charged and estimated rate from prior consumption months and the computer calculated the bill for the month of Aprils billing cycle. With the users bills being estimated some of the users over paid by a fraction which was credited to the accounts for the next bill. This is why the current bill was 63.39. The consumer stated this was their normal usage which is not fact. Under account number [redacted], [redacted] the following bills have been issued, 04/15/2015 ($63.39), 03/03/2015 ($128.76), 02/11/2015 ($128.76), 01/09/2015 ($127.06), 12/11/2014 ($127.83), 11/12/2014 ($115.03) include in the bill is water, sewer and trash. It should be noted that the City had an open town hall meeting in November of 2014 and sent notification that the utility rates were going up, to comply with the Department of Natural Resources rate study for grants that we have applied for. A publication was sent to each user so they would be notified about the rate study. This shows that the estimation from the estimate generator was accurate on the utility rates. The account was merely cheaper on Aprils bill because of the credit on the account. With the bill being credited for the month of April their account is current and valid. The next bill will reflect no credit and if the user uses the same amount of utilities as prior months listed it will reflect on the bill for May. It should also be noted that the customer has not contacted City Hall in reference a resolution or to discuss the reason why the bill was cheaper for April.