So my latest water bill is a fair amount more than previous bills. Why? Because I have been watering my garden for an hour each day. I certainly expect to pay for the water I have used. But when I look at my bill, what I find interesting is that most of it is sewer, not water.
My sewer bill is based on my water usage, yet the water I put into my garden never touches the sewer. I am therefore being charged for a service that I did not receive, and if I don't pay it, a vital service will be cut off to my home (we aren't talking about a discrepancy with the cable company where I can just say "forget you guys" and go without).
When I inquired to a credit for the extra amount I was told that the only means of fixing this was for me to install a $400 extra meter. I would just have to decide whether it is better for me to pay the sewer company for a service they did not provide or pay $400 for this extra meter. Those are my only options.
Then I was politely hung up on.
I don't know if anyone else is as mad about this as me, but I'm not real happy about paying money for services that I did not use and being told that it's just too bad. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at my water usage over the past year and see that for the last two months I've used x amount of water more than any other month and adjust a bill from there.
It makes no sense for me to sue anyone over this, as it's $25 or so. But the low dollar amount doesn't make it right. But how about if the thousands of Chattanoogans who are all paying that $25 extra for a service we did not receive while watering our lawns and gardens were to get together with a lawyer for a nice class action lawsuit against both the sewer company and the water company (which says "I'm sorry, we just do billing"). The $25 times the thousands of people who watered their lawns and gardens this summer adds up to a lot of money that the sewer system makes for providing no service. It makes perfect sense for a business or a large farmer to pay the $400 for that extra meter, but it makes no sense for a homeowner to do that.
I'm sure there are many out there who have fought this battle for years. Why then is it still being fought?
Cliff Ling
Chattanooga