By Wendy F. Horn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 10:02 am: |
In March Web billed me for using 220 cubic meters of water -- 7 times more water than I had ever used in a month in four years of living here. I disputed the 2800 nafls bill; Web investigated and told me the bill was correct; the meter was fine and I had to pay the bill. I made sure there were no leaks in my pool and no broken toilets; nothing else changed and the next month the bill was within normal ranges. It is 100% impossible that I used 220 cubes in one month -- that's more than a small resort uses and if there was a leak in a water main, North Salina would've been flooded! Today I heard from a friend that he received the same kind of bill -an impossible huge bill -- not including the surcharge. We are going to talk to a lawyer because this is obviously not a one time event. Please contact me if this has happened to you too.
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By Barton Brown (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 10:45 am: |
Wendy,
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By Wendy F. Horn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 10:52 am: |
Barton --
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By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #334) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 11:18 am: |
Hi, Wendy!
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By Wendy F. Horn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 11:41 am: |
Tish -- Thank you for your ideas. The newest example of this problem (a one - time very high bill) just happened with a friend who lives in Belnam. I live in Republiek.I will try to find out who the deputy commission is who is in charge of Web (does anyone know?) This is all made worse by the nearly 100% surcharge on actual usage -- my bill this month with the surcharge was over 1000 guilders. Does anyone know how long the water surcharge will remain in effect ? Why are we paying it? It amazes me that the percentage of the surcharge varies by how much water you use --if you use more, they charge a higher percentage surcharge! If anyone has information on this they want to pass on privately, please email me at wendyhorn@attglobal.net. Thank you --
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By Barton Brown (BonaireTalker - Post #33) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 11:51 am: |
Ok, now that my first dumb/obvious question has been addressed I'll try for two in a row...
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By Jake Richter - NetTech (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5595) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 12:06 pm: |
I know our water bills have gone up more than 50% lately over what they were at the start of the year, and so has our power bill (it was substantial before, and is now outrageous - 2/3rs of our monthly mortgage payment). It's time to start investing in alternate power sources for our house (and yes, I know about conservation, but when you run a business out of your house...)
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By Wendy F. Horn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #8) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 12:27 pm: |
Barton --- Thanks for your good ideas. We have a house going up next to us but they are correctly and separately metered. There are no faucets outside that could be easily tampered with... And the amount of water I'm alledged to have used would take all my hoses running full time into the street for days and days to come up to 220 cubes. That did not happen. I agree 100% with Jake -- we live on an island with plenty of sun and wind, yet we're held hostage to a single water/electricity vendor. My water and electricty bill for June was almost $800 even with a grey water system for the yard and airco in only two small rooms part of the day.
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2118) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 3:33 pm: |
Sounds as though this is wide spread enough that the problem may well be at WEB; the meters may be fine but they are not the only device/thing in the chain between the house water inlet pipe and the paper bill!!! Time to dig a bit deeper!!!!
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By Bruce Zupek (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 9:53 pm: |
I suspect the problem to be connection of a new WEB water user in Wendy's neighborhood. When WEB connects a new user they introduce air into the water line. They are SUPPOSED to bleed the line of air before restarting the service.
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By john merriner (BonaireTalker - Post #36) on Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 2:11 pm: |
When you say "cubes"; does that translate to mean cubic meters?
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By john merriner (BonaireTalker - Post #37) on Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 2:14 pm: |
ignore previous...I missed it in the first sentence of the first post.
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By Dara Walter (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #693) on Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 6:11 pm: |
Hi Wendy!! Sounds like Bruce is onto something, which if correct, should be explained to the people at WEB. Do they even have an official "engineer" that might grasp the difference in fluid dynamics between water and air in a meter.......? You could always behave as the locals would, and just not pay it :-)
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By Kelly Baum (GDLW) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2956) on Friday, August 5, 2005 - 1:49 pm: |
heee heee --- the cement tent. That's perfect.
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #14073) on Friday, August 5, 2005 - 3:47 pm: |
Kelly...Dara...cement tent with holes in the roof!
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2126) on Friday, August 5, 2005 - 5:02 pm: |
If Bruce is correct and WEB has been doing the same thing all along, it sounds as though a lot of the water 'theft' was by WEB itself. It should be real fun to get them to admit that!!! Not to mention the idea of meter replacement or asking how much error there might be in 'regular' bills for the affected locations. Not fun, folks.
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #402) on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - 10:11 am: |
WEB has billed us for 225 cubic meters of water--a whopping fls 2.847,00, over ten times our normal bill. We've disputed this at WEB, and they sent another meter-reader, who said it's correct. For comparison, at KFC, we use less than 50 cubic meters a month--and there I have water almost constantly in use from 9am to 1am. It's ridiculous. My (paranoid) theory is that they've billed people who they think can "afford" this bill, to make up their deficit. But Bruce's air/water comment makes a lot of sense too--we're on Kaya Grandi, and there's been a lot of work in the area. It certainly warrants further investigation. (I've been away since Aug 2, hence the late post).
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2142) on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - 11:13 am: |
It sounds as though a 'class action' is needed here: many people apparently have the same problem, and more if it were known. Individuals always have a hard time getting a bureaucracy to correct their actions, especially when large money is at stake.
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By Pauline Kayes (BonaireTalker - Post #58) on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - 4:28 pm: |
Ruth, is this a recent WEB bill that was so high? or is this still a billing problem that occurred in March as for Wendy? I am just wondering whether or not it is still happening currently--have there been any articles in the papers about these WEB billing discrepancies? thanks, pauline
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #403) on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - 6:21 pm: |
Received it yesterday. There has been a lot in the local media about the WEB bills in general (nearly double for everyone), especially electricity, where the "brandstofclausule" is supposed to be used to adjust bills relative to the world oil prices, but is now being (ab)used because WEB is in huge debt. Supposedly this use of the clause is illegal. At least that's my understanding of the spin it's getting. All of my electrical bills have doubled (KFC's is nearly $5k/m now-yes US$5,000). And that's on top of the water bill fiasco-which is happening to me at my house. Ouf.
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #14173) on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - 8:19 pm: |
Ruth..5K a month? Yikes! Pass the salitos!
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #404) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 12:38 pm: |
Too weak, I've gone straight to my good friend, Mr. Johnnie Walker (green)...
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #14182) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 12:51 pm: |
Ruth, I think getting a water bill (and electricity bill) like that would make me break out the aged malt scotch (and drink it the English way...no rocks!)
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By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #370) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 3:57 pm: |
Ruth,
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #405) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 5:12 pm: |
Thanks Tish-we know him quite well, and are definitely working every local contact we have. And Cynde, you're right--why pollute my malt w/ice from water from WEB? Besides, ice slows down doing shots. My last payment to WEB totalled almost fls 11.000 (home & KFC together, before this 2.847 home water bill). Man, that hurts. (appx US$6k)
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By Cynde (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #14186) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 7:07 pm: |
Ruth, I just fainted...pour me another scotch please...
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By Annette Roswell - The Last Bite Bakery (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #126) on Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 10:32 pm: |
Hey there Wendy & Ruth.
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By Menno de Bree (BonaireTalker - Post #20) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 7:54 am: |
In the new Reporter I read that somebody is "collecting" all the information about the "WEB mistakes" to stand up together to this. I sadly have the reporter not available anymore to forward that contact info, but maybe this can help you all .......
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By Wendy F. Horn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 12:12 pm: |
Thanks All -- A few comments
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By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #375) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 1:21 pm: |
Wendy,
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2144) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 2:49 pm: |
Bruce's explanation also explains one-time hits: a large 'water use' will be recorded each time air is introduced when a pipe is opened for repairs/new installation. Then the meter (if undamaged by the air slug) will operate normally making WEB correct when they check it later.
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By Pauline Kayes (BonaireTalker - Post #59) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 4:04 pm: |
I just received my WEB bill for my house in Belnem and I am breathing a momentary sigh of relief as my water bill was 155 naf, but as noted here they might get me next time with a "big hit." I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed! I do hope there will be an investigation into all these strange WEB bill occurrences so we don't have to go bankrupt!
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By Annette Roswell - The Last Bite Bakery (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #129) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 6:40 pm: |
Hey there Wendy.
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By Dara Walter (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #696) on Friday, August 19, 2005 - 11:51 pm: |
Perhaps someone can contact the technical services deptartment of the water meter manufacturer and get some assistance from them. If air in the lines is/could be the problem, they would be in a good position to speak to WEB from a position of knowledge and authority (not that web will listen :-(
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #406) on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 9:27 am: |
Our meter's running seemingly normal now, same as before the July bombshell. We actually received a postcard from WEB in July, telling us that they noticed we had used an "unusually high amount" of water between July 14 - 20, and that we should check for leaks, etc. We did, and had a WEB inspector come and examine the entire house and meter, which he pronounced to be just fine... I'm still not sure how they noticed this amount during this particular week. It's on the list of questions we have for WEB.
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2149) on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 1:23 pm: |
Interesting, Ruth. If they have a weekly (or even better daily breakdown to individual meters) it should be easier to cross check against any records of maintenance that would have introduced air in the vicinity of the 'high use burst' meters.
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By Ruth van Tilburg (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #407) on Sunday, August 21, 2005 - 10:20 am: |
Here they still send someone around--and I found it very strange that they could pin down a week when this happened. The plot thickens.
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2151) on Sunday, August 21, 2005 - 8:21 pm: |
Maybe they have been looking at their work records???.... Meaning they understand full well what is happening?... Some plot.
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