SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — On the last few days of every month, the Congemis walk to the side of their Point Loma home, open the lid of their water meter and take a picture of the numbers at the bottom.
“We need to pay what we owe, but not more than we owe,” said Lynn Congemi.
It gives them a record of their actual water usage around the time their water bill comes in.
“Recently we got a very large water bill, much larger than we normally get,” Lynn Congemi said.
Lynn Congemi said in the last billing cycle, the city’s water department overcharged them by $168.
“Looked at it, it was an estimated read,” she said.
That means no one from the water department actually read the meter. The city says this happened around 14% of the time this year. It’s mainly a result of staffing shortages.
“When there’s an estimated read, there’s of course an opportunity for an error,” Congemi said.
When the city does an estimated read, they base it on prior water usage. It's estimated using numbers from that same billing period in the previous year. Or if that's not available, the department uses the average daily usage from the current year. From the estimated bills this year, the city says 90% of them were accurate.
“We’ve had estimated bills the last two bills. I would say: if you feel like doing this, you may consider it,” Congemi said.
When it’s inaccurate, Congemi says you can call the department and they will fix it for you.
The city says the long-term solution is to deploy smart meters citywide. They will start the process for that in November. In the meantime, you can also fight overcharges using an online form.
