City's customers want answers after seeing major spikes to water bills with new meters

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New water meters are triggering new water bills for Columbus customers, and some are contacting ABC 6 News to say the new numbers are not adding up.

"Everyone was having issues with the meters," said Columbus water customer Marlon Jefferson.

"Everything seems to be going up and no, I don't want that anxiety."
After receiving several complaints regarding bills that have doubled, ABC 6 Investigates contacted Jefferson who made a social media post alerting others that his bill jumped to $2,100. He said he has no leaks, and the new charges are ten times greater than his average water bill.

"I hate to tell you but there won't be a $2,100 payment made because that's ridiculous," Jefferson told ABC 6 Investigates this month. "My first thought was they just changed the meters. So, I don't understand how our bill could be so large."

The city of Columbus is in the process of replacing all 300,000 meters as part of its Enhanced Meter Project and has already completed more than 40,000 installations. The city has received more than 100 customer complaints regarding the project. However, the city also issued more than 2,000 shut off warnings issued within the same project.

"We’ve had some customers not set up appointments or not be at home at the time of a scheduled appointment -- the installation technicians require inside access to replace the meter, and they do not go to a property without an appointment. It’s understandable that some customers are reluctant to have someone come into their home to change a meter, and unfortunately there have been a number of times where we’ve had to go to the last resort of sending turnoff letters – only sent after several previous notices – to schedule access in order to upgrade the meter," wrote Columbus Public Utilities spokesperson George Zonders to ABC 6 Investigates.

Jefferson said the city gave him different causes for his higher bill after he called to complain.

"At first, it was a billing issue with some decimal points," he said. "(Then) whatever meter we had out here wasn't syncing with the one inside."

Jefferson posted his high-water bill concerns to the Nextdoor App where more Columbus neighbors said they were dealing with the same issue.

"It got to the point where I had to turn off comments because they just kept coming through," he said.

Another customer who only wants to be known as Sara contacted ABC 6 News after she also called the city about her bill and said she warned them that she was going to the media. Sara said her bill doubled to nearly $500.

"They just called it a sticking meter," Sara told ABC 6 Investigates. "They pretty much told me I need to get on payment plans to get it paid."

According to the city, old meters have been running slow. When new meter reads show higher water usage, the city can "back bill" a customer for up to two years for water new estimates show that customer used.

"If the new daily average is higher, that will not automatically result in a back bill," wrote Zonders in an email to ABC 6 Investigates. "We will continue reviewing the account and work to confirm a bill based on actual usage."

ABC 6 Investigates has asked the city how many customers have been back billed this billing cycle, how many of those customers have received the new meters, and if back bill charges reflect on current bills. Those answers were not immediately available.

"I just don't understand why we have to be liable for past water that would have been paid up had it not been functioning correctly to begin with," said Sara. "To me, it's a punishment because of their equipment."

Zonders also said it is conceivable the meter installation itself caused a leak.

While the city would not provide ABC 6 Investigates with an on-camera interview on this issue, Zonders said bills have reduced for both Jefferson and Sara. Jefferson's $2,100 bill dropped down to $280. Sara's bill dropped by more than $100. He said the city was already working on both cases when contacted.
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