SUD Addresses Water Billing Concerns :: New Commissioner Will be Elected in January

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Some Sewanee Utility District (SUD) customers in the Jump Off, Midway, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School and Sherwood communities received unusually high water bills in December. Many contacted the SUD office, expressing confusion and dismay.

“There were no meter problems,” SUD manager Ben Beavers said. 

The higher than normal bills occurred because the billing period for affected customers was more than two weeks longer than the usual billing period, Beavers explained. The Thanksgiving holiday also fell in this period, which may have increased water usage for some households due to guests and children home from college.

The longer billing cycle resulted from a change in the date of the meter reading. The meters were not read until completion of the warranty work replacing the encoder receiver transmitters, a communication component on each meter. The meters of the customers who received high bills were read on Dec. 16 or Dec. 17, instead of Dec. 1, Beavers said. The computer software generating bills erroneously printed the dates of the billing period as Nov. 1 to Dec. 1.

Next month, the affected customers will receive a bill reflecting a short two-week billing period from Dec. 16 or Dec. 17 to Jan. 1, which Beavers expects will be a much lower reading than usual. Beginning in Jan. the billing cycle will return to the regular monthly schedule coinciding with the calendar month.

High water bills are typically the result of a leak on the customer’s side of the meter. Once water passes through the meter, it is the customer’s responsibility, according to SUD policies.

If the customer is in doubt about the water usage recorded on the meter, SUD will have the meter tested at the customer’s request. The customer will be required to pay a meter testing deposit of $50. SUD will remove the meter and have it tested by an outside agency. If the meter proves to be within the accuracy guidelines established by the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the meter is deemed to be accurate. If the meter tests accurate, the customer forfeits the meter testing deposit and must pay the bill in question. If the meter fails to meet AWWA standards, SUD will refund the deposit, repair or replace the meter and adjust the customer’s bill by the percentage of error shown in the test. SUD’s experience is that as meters age, they tend to record less water than actually passes through them, erring in the customer’s favor.

SUD recently replaced all its meters, a process that began in 2014. For customers with a slight water usage increase in the past two years, it could be due to more accurate metering after the new meter was installed. SUD elects commissioners in January of each year. Voting for the one opening on the board began on Jan. 4 and ends at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 26; voting is conducted at the SUD office on Sherwood Road. 

Commissioner Art Hanson, who currently holds the seat, was the only SUD customer to express an interest in serving on the board and is therefore the only candidate on the ballot; there is a place for write-in candidates. The SUD board advertised this opening in the Messenger. Commissioners must be SUD customers. They are limited to two consecutive four-year terms.

Commissioner Ken Smith’s term expires in January 2017. The terms of commissioners Karen Singer and Randall Henley expire in January 2018. Commissioner Ronnie Hoosier’s term expires in January 2019.

All SUD board meetings are open to the public. The SUD board meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise announced. The board next meets on Jan. 26, when ballots for the election will be counted.