Lexington residents, did your water bill spike last month? Here’s why and what to do
After numerous complaints about billing issues, posted on social media and provided to the Herald-Leader, Kentucky American Water said potentially thousands of customers in Lexington may have seen spiking bills in January and December.
The company’s chief spokesperson said the issues were due to billing system glitches or efforts to reroute meter readers, and claimed customers were not overbilled. Affected customers have been notified, the spokesperson said.
“These aren’t overbilling issues but rather bill-timing issues,” Susan Lancho, senior manager of external and governmental affairs for KAW, told the Herald-Leader in an emailed response.
In a phone call with the Herald-Leader earlier this month, Lancho listed several potential reasons as to why a customer might have seen a higher than normal bill in the last two months. The Herald-Leader was following up on complaints and reports from customers who had seen their bills balloon, in at least one case, by hundreds of dollars.
A computer glitch that delayed the mailing of December water bills to customers, a recent company initiative to reroute meter readers to improve “efficiency” or simply a water line leak all could be potential factors, depending on the customer’s circumstances, Lancho told the Herald-Leader.
Still, at least one couple the Herald-Leader corresponded with sees the response from KAW as inadequate.
“We were not double billed, or billed at the wrong time, or had the meter read at the wrong time, nor did we have a leak,” Susan Owens, a KAW customer who shared her billing issues, told the Herald-Leader in response to the company’s claims.
Owens and her husband received not one but two water bills north of $500, which in turn led to high bills from their sewer service provider, LEXserv, she said. After hours on the phone and ping-ponging between both utility providers and her bank, Owens finally has the situation straightened out, but it’s left her weary of being drastically overbilled again, she told the Herald-Leader.
Additionally, over the course of the last two months, complaints and concerns on social media from KAW customers have come at a fairly regular drip.
Here’s a look at why your water bill may have gone up, what to do about it and what customers have told us about their experience with the company.
Why are some Kentucky American Water customers seeing their bills spike?
Lancho pointed to several potential reasons as to why customers in Lexington might have see higher water bills in December and January.
The first of which is a segment of KAW customers did not receive their December water bills due to a “system issue” that delayed them, Lancho said.
“We had about 1,000 accounts in December that were affected by a system issue that delayed the sending of their December water bills … We notified those affected customers about that issue,” Lancho told the Herald-Leader. She added the company is taking steps to make sure the issue doesn’t happen again.
A notice from the company, which Lancho said was sent to customers in December, said as much and added the company would allow a three-month grace period for payments. If customers need longer than three months, KAW will set up a payment plan with them.
Separately, Lancho said “approximately 3,000 other customer accounts were notified recently about a meter reading re-routing project to improve efficiency.”
The new routes for meter reading will change the usual timing and could temporarily affect the amount of a customer’s bill, Lancho said. KAW customers have also been notified of this change, Lancho added.
Finally, Lancho said a burst pipe, particularly after the cold spell in late December, could be the reason some customers are seeing higher water bills.
The company provides a “hidden leak adjustment” on qualifying bills.
What should I do if I see my water or sewer bill spike?
According to Lancho, KAW customers should first contact the utility company and let them know if there’s an issue with their bill.
Another option may be to request another meter read from one of the company’s employees.
Kentucky customers who experience persistent problems with their utility company can also complain to Kentucky’s Public Service Commission. The agency’s consumer services division can be contacted by email at psc.consumer.inquiry@ky.gov or by phone at 1-800-772-4636.
You can also click here to file an online complaint with the PSC.
What customers told us about their high water bills
Problems began for Owens when she discovered KAW had auto-drafted more than $500 from a bank account for her monthly water bill. In a separate but related case, she was billed $600 by LEXserv, Owens and her husband, David Wilkes, told the Herald-Leader.
When Owens discovered the huge bill and “enough water usage that we could have filled swimming pools,” she ran down a list of potential problems and checked them out.
“We had none of the usual culprits – no leaky toilets, broken pipes (at least visible ones), etc., and no seepage or pooling outside anywhere on the property. I also noticed the meter was read automatically by machine, not by a real person,” Owens wrote in an email to the Herald-Leader.
She followed up with KAW and LEXserv, who placed holds on the accounts so no money would be deducted until the situation was resolved. Owens also said a meter reader visited her home to conduct a new reading and found the new reading was significantly lower, in other words, no leak.
Still, days later, the charge from the water company showed up as pending on her bank account, Owens told the Herald-Leader. She made a few more calls, to her bank and then to KAW, and after a lot of back and forth, Owens finally got a check in the mail from the water company.
After suspending her automatic payments to KAW, she thought the issue was resolved for good. Then her January bill showed up.
After another $500 plus charge, Owens requested a new meter. A few days later, a gentleman came from the water company and changed the meter.
“[He] told us that the reading was way off and that we should see a much lower, corrected amount reflected on the website within a couple of days,” Owens told the Herald-Leader.
But again, not much happened. She called representatives at KAW and LEXserv to follow up. Owens estimates she’s spent close to six hours in conversations with representatives from both utility providers, but as of Feb. 15, she confirmed her water bill has returned to normal: $51.58.
In a separate case, KAW customer Daniel Bourne reported similar overbilling issues with KAW and LEXserv, though to a much lower degree.
“My original bill for each service was over double what’s normal,” Bourne wrote in an email response.
In the case of KAW, Bourne wrote, “They sent me a letter advising I probably had a leak which I thought was humorous especially after their employee that reread [the meter] verified an incorrect read.”
“The misread occurred on my November bill for October usage,” Bourne told the Herald-Leader, adding his water bill was about $76 and his Lexserv bill was more than $80. A typical bill for each service runs him about $30 a month, he said.
Bourne said he was able to resolve his billing issues with both services after a few phone calls to straighten things out.
“After the credits from each, it will get me back to about that average,” Bourne said.
This story was reported in response to reader questions and comments from our Know Your Kentucky project. If you have a question about a consumer issue in Kentucky, we’d like to hear from you. Fill out the form below or email ask@herald-leader.com.