Recently WEB informed Unkobon’s employees of the results of a four month long investigation into possible causes of occasional extremely high water bills. Unkobon is disappointed that WEB has not been capable or willing to investigate the possible causes in depth.
In December 2015, based on Unkobon’s notifications, WEB requested the data of customers who had experienced an occasional extremely high water bill. It concerned cases that could not be explained by clear causes such as leakage, an open tap etc. In the middle of January Unkobon forwarded data pertaining to 42 customers. Unkobon also communicated several possible causes for occasional high water bills:
- water pressure might be very high due to a faulty regulator;
- after a repair there could be air in the pipes, which could lead to incorrect measurements;
- there could be a very different usage period because the meter had not been read on the planned date.
WEB’s standard procedure in case of these kind of complaints is the so called bucket test, which serves to check whether the water meter works correctly. This test, however, does not give a decisive answer about the possible causes suggested by Unkobon. Therefore, Unkobon has requested that WEB verify in its administration whether the 42 mentioned cases could have been due to the suggested causes. Unkobon has also requested to test what happens when air is pumped through the water meter under pressure.
WEB has promised to thoroughly investigate all the possible causes of these occasional high water bills. However, it has limited its investigation to the so called bucket test. Unkobon regrets that WEB has not investigated the other possible causes. WEB’s position is that the water that has passed through the water meter has to be paid for, regardless of the cause. WEB’s general terms of delivery, which are quite consumer unfriendly, facilitate this rigid stance.