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Bill introduced to tighten regs on meter reading
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Posted on May 16 2008
A lawmaker has introduced legislation that would tighten the meter reading procedure followed by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Stanley T. Torres, comes in light of customer complaints about CUC’s inaccurate billings for their power and water usage. The mistakes have been blamed on CUC’s practice of sometimes guessing or estimating a customer’s usage based on history.
Under the bill, CUC would be required to provide all customers with an actual monthly meter reading of their power and water usage. A notice indicating the meter reading, date of reading, and initial of the meter reader must be taped onto the meter.
If an actual reading cannot be attained, CUC would be required to call the customer to take it. CUC would only be allowed to estimate a meter reading if an actual meter reading cannot be obtained “by any reasonable means.”
Torres in his bill said the CUC practice of estimating usage “is faulty and unconscionable given our dire economic situation.” The fact that complaints are often ignored by CUC makes the practice “unacceptable,” he added.
“The rising cost of fuel is alarming to everyone in our community and many families and businesses are doing their best to conserve and to keep their utility costs at a minimum. The CUC’s method of guessing or estimating a customer’s usage does not reflect the current conservation practice of consumers and it certainly demands the question of why the CUC bothers to employ meter readers in the first place,’ Torres said.
Only recently, a residential customer received a monthly power bill showing that she owes CUC $40,000. And the customer was supposed to have incurred the $40,000 bill in 24 hours use of power.
The customer said her family has two air-conditioners at home, which they only use at night. Their average monthly consumption is $200.
