Missing bills, Higher bills. Utility glitch affects 32,000.

...what would happen if you lightly spray paint over the glass on your meter. Flat black or primer grey. You know, just enuff so you can't make out the numbers. If you get billed 2 months in a row and you still can't make out the numbers, something shady is going on.

The article is mistaken when it says "the account problems do not appear to have hit Suffolk".

My wife and I live in Suffolk, and we didn't receive a bill for about 6-8 months. Our bill was normally around $150, but we eventually received a bill that was over $1,000! I analyzed it closely to make sure there were no calculation mistakes, and it seems accurate (high due to the rate increase and covering 6-8 months of water, but accurate nonetheless). We found ourselves in a position of being responsible to pay a very large bill, and didn't have that kind of cash on hand just after the Holidays. We had to get on a payment plan with them so we don't have to pay it all in one chunk.

I'm not sure how many other Suffolk residents were affected by the "glitch" or how they were affected, but some of us definitely were affected by not receiving a bill for several months.

"Ira Tateu: My comment to your situation is WHY didn't you talk with a Supervisor instead of playing the "rope-a-dope" game with the CSR on the phone? "

I spoke w/ everyone. Trust me.

Doesn't matter now. I am well past the 24 months and my well produces sparkling water and my septic works like a champ. I always heard negative things about both but with minimal treatment both work great. Septic in worst case scenario will be about 71.00 a year, and the water w/ treatment system should be a little over 200.00 a year(filters are expensive). This is the total costs(install incl.) averaged over the life of the systems based on a family of 4.

Ethan, get out of the basement. Everyone has got to read his posts. It's really confirms a lot of my suspicions.

HRSD has been providing QUALITY, WORLD CLASS wastewater treatment to the Tidewater area for more than 50 years. Take a close look at your bills and you will find that your HRSD bill is the cheapest one you have.

HRUBS is a BILLING SERVICE created by HRSD that provides FREE billing services to the cities in Hampton Roads. This system has been operating free of complications for over 10 years. Due to a software glitch some billing errors have occurred. However, this issue goes deeper than HRUBS.

HRUBS depends on the CITIES to provide accurate billing information.
This billing information includes 1)City Water; 2)City Sewer; 3)Refuse Collection; 4)Storm water; etc. HRUBS DOES NOT READ METERS!

The HRSD portion of the bill supplied by HRUBS is by far the least expensive portion of this bill.

Over the past several months, HR cities have drastically increased ALL city utility rates. In some cases these rate increases have doubled. This is YOUR CITY increasing your bills, NOT HRUBS.

In Portsmouth, (I am not in the HRUBS system), my utility bill has almost doubled, and HRSD and HRUBS has absolutely NOTHING to do with these increases. My seperate HRSD bill is $14.

The comment posted by tommytutone hit the nail on the head. Although there are some obvious and ridiculous problems with this new system, most people I talk to don't understand that there is a difference between the water departments and HRSD. The water departments read the meters, not HRSD. If the meter is not being read or being read incorrectly, that's a water department issue. If the water department reads your meter and says you've used 3x as much as last month, then the charges are going to go up, right? That doesn't appear to be the same thing as the problems HRSD is experiencing with delayed bills. If I'm missing a utility bill, I don't assume that the service is free. What about setting the money aside or actually paying in advance and having a credit so when the bills do show up, it's not such a burden. That doesn't excuse HRSD but everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves and not always look for someone else to blame.

When problems within utilities such as this occur, the consumer must have more recourse to solution, outside of the utility company. I have spoken to City Council on December 11, 2007 about this problem. Please visit www.thomasarringtoniii.com and go to the video clips page. I cannot understand why our council takes so long before taking corrective action to solve problems. Why wait until the problem gets larger before doing something about it. A Public Service Commission should be formed and consist of employees from each utility on an employment loan program, as not to create another level of governmental bureaucracy. This commission would handle specific large problems and ensure that the utilities compensate the consumer fully, in order to avoid fines. This commission would put pressure on the utility to quality control each department within their company. Commissions such as the one I speak of, have been established for years in larger cities. They are good for the consumer, as well as the utility company, causing them to "pay attention to the details".

I had at least one billing cycle skipped and I called to ask about it and was told I had no balance. Then I paid my bill last month (normal amount) and got another one this month. The amount has not gone up but I normally pay HRSD every other month so I'm figuring they found their screw up and instead of sending me a monster bill, they're going to bill me twice as often until it's caught up.

my money's on total human incompetence. It's rampant here in Hampton Roads. Look around, check it out. These city governments/state agencies are notorious for hiring from within, their friends, family, anyone closely related. It's a mess and I do NOT see it getting better in any arena---- and I might as well throw in the schools.

I wonder exactly when the brilliant new software was implemented last year? I have had higher bills (some ridiculously higher) since spring 2007. I really thought something was going on on my end. I'm thankful I saw this article. I hope everyone bands together and joins Susan in refusing to pay the excess! I know I will.

i to had a water bill last month that was 3 1/2 times what it has always been.after calling the city of norfolk a csr told me to have a plumber check for leaks but i explained my yard is dry and no water is coming into my home from upstairs or below.after continuing to tell me it was in my home i asked for a supervisor and as we talked i said please stay on the line and i will read the meter and she says she cannot stay on that long.i uncovered the meter and the whole thing was full of dirt.so afetr digging down i read it and guess what?it was lower than the reading i was billed for that was read 14 days earlier.after another call and telling them i took a pic of the reading they send someone the next day and my reading was lower than the average i had been paying.i explained that the meter could not have been read but was told they are read every month.now i am to pay my average but i can see what awaits me in trying to correct thier mistake.
the only thing i can say to the people that did not get billed for all those months why did;nt you call or doid you think they where giving away free water.

This is amazing to read all this. People talk about lets sue them- you're probably the same people who took your ball and ran home when you didn't get picked for the team. Something doesn't go the way you like it's automatically let's sue them! Did you really think that just because you weren't getting a bill that the water/wastewater was going to be FREE? What in 2008 is free? You had to know it was going to catch up with you eventually. If you bank stops sending you a bill for your car payment do you not think repo man is going to come get it?

To the person talking about their Portsmouth bill- have you happened to notice that the majority of the bill is for REFUSE and has nothing to do with water or sewer? I used to live in Portsmouth and my last bill was for about $98, of which $62 of it was for TRASH pickup!! Go figure!

I see a lot of squabbling about meter reading. The way I understand the system to work, the individual CITIES read the meters, not HRSD or HRUBS. If there is a problem with the consumption on your bill, call the freaking city and ask why they can't read a meter. I've seen it myself, dirt, grass, etc. covering the meters. I personally appreciate

Our water bill increased substantially, for no apparent reason. Talking to HRUBS is like talking to someone with some semblence of competence, but devoid of any clarity. We had the City of Chesapeake - Public Utilities and a plumber come out to determine if there were any leaks at our residence. Surprise! There were NONE. HRUBS told my wife that they don't always read the meter (what are they there for then?), and they frequently estimate the bill. As best I can tell, most families don't plan monthly budgets on estimations. The monthly usage is not reflected on the bills anymore (if you get a bill). How would would someone in a position of authority at HRUBS like it if I sent THEM a bill without justifying the numbers? This is so wrong. HRUBS is an organization that is running amok. I watched a representataive on TV last night state that there were "some" small problems, but that everything now is proceeding "amazingly well." Apparently, the water she's drinking is obviously spiked, or someone is in denial. We need a top to bottom audit of this utility to determine if it really was a computer software problem (which they deny) or just total human incompetence.

Wow! This shows massive incompetence and fraud on behalf of the city govts. Look at these comments, it's sad. Look how much people are being overcharged. I guess it's modern American service with lazy CSRs that are of no help, or are helpless. In the case of electrical service, much of the meter reading is going digital and wireless. I've started working on a project to build a radio interface to receive the spread spectrum UHF (900mhz ISM band) data transmissions from meters. The evil part is with some of the meters, remote disconnection is possible (the power company can cut your power without coming out.) Should make an interesting white paper on meter security. We will see how it goes. The mesh network systems don't seem to have widespread deployment in Hampton Roads, and it's obvious they aren't in use for water metering with the cities.

Wouldn't it be a welcome change if just ONCE a government, company, group, etc would just step up to the plate and ADMIT they made a mistake? Taking it a step further, why can't they "make this right" for their customers instead of threatening them, lying to them, and pushing the burden of responsibility to them? Why is that so hard these days? That's a rhetorical question folks - no need to answer.

This charade will go on for weeks and months for those unfortunate customers of the HRSD, maybe even years. Computers are to blame??? Yeah, ok. I have news for you HRSD in just four letters (an acronym):

GIGO - it's a time-tested principle where computers are concerned. What is it? Ans: Garbage In, Garbage Out

I REALLY hope that these comments are forwarded to each of the cities mentioned. What happened to the customer is always right? And why do they always assume that it's a leak that's causing a high bill? What about their own incompetence? I too, had to scrape off the dirt on my meter. Now, I also take photos of the readings. Let them try and double talk their way out of that!!

I live in Portsmouth in a 1200 sq ft house. I only do maybe 3 loads of laundry a week and there are 3 quick showers taken a day. My water bill has been around $180 for 60 days. But how exactly do they check the meter? I've been asking around and have been told that it's usually in the front yard. Well, mine has been untouched for so long that soil and grass has completely covered it. I would have to actually dig to get to it. I really hope that this is not what they use to calculate my bill. I will be one very upset customer!!!

I pulled up my water meter cover several years ago and found a ton of dirt under it and had to dig, dig, dig to get to my meter guage. I was pi$$ed to say the least because I just KNEW no one was reading all the meters. I called the city of Chesapeake water dept and was told....get this....'they cover the meter back over when they're finished'. Oh yeah, right they do. I was off one day and when I'm off I do lots of errands and not all at one time. I saw a meter reader parked in the truck at the end of the main street to get into my neighborhood. Every time I left my neighborhood there he was sitting in the truck smoking. Every time I came back there he was sitting in the truck smoking. All day long. And in my neighborhood you have to walk your buns off to read the meters. He did not drive to each one and get out....he just didn't do it at all. But I got a bill.

was DOUBLE what it normally is!! now I see all this..time to do some of my own research! I just never have the time and should be able to trust the companies that we depend on, on a daily basis to provide us with the services we are paying for(OVERPAYING FOR). just another head ache and worry for me!

This bill is 5 times higher than normal. Can anyone beat that?!? I was told I must have a leak somewhere. Ummm..don't you think I would see $500 of water SOMEWHERE??? My husband left the hose running into the pool for almost 24 hours last summer, and our bill only increased by $75 or so. **HRUBS, PAY ATTENTION:**I will NOT be held responsible for this bill.

Over the summer, I received a bill that basically stated I used NO water in the course of 31 days. I asked that the meter be reread, and was told the same thing. I sent in a payment anyway, thank goodness, because two months later, it caught up. I called in and read them the riot act. Ever since, as soon as I see the meter reader, I run out and record the number myself. I know for a fact that they don't read half the meters they claim. I watch them walk up and down the block, entering numbers but never lifting the meter covers. How accurate is that?? Why can't these people be held accountable for their mistakes and blatant theft of our money? I've been charged for extra garbage cans, you name it, and I'm sick to death of being swindled by the city of Norfolk!!

I to live in a townhouse in Chesapeake and have no pool, don't water my lawn, don't do laundry but once a week and hardly ever run the dish washer, but my bill amount was double for December/January. I went on line and followed their instructions on how to do the "dye-leak" test, which showed I had no leaks. Then, I went out to the street and opened my meter cover and tried to read the meter. Guess what? There was so much dirt, mud and water in the hole that you couldn't see the meter. So I dipped it out, but could never get past the hardened, concrete like mud to detect that I had a meter. When I called HRSD, they said they showed that someone had read the meter the month before....no way. I bet that meter hadn't been read in months. My bills run around the $60-$70 dollar range and my bill was almost $160.00. They told me to pay the normal fee and sent me a letter saying it was wrong, but then sent me a bill for a $50.00 adjustment. I say we should try to file a class action suit against the cities and then maybe they will get their act and billing up to snuff. Thank goodness I don't have direct payment with them.

Ira Tateu: My comment to your situation is WHY didn't you talk with a Supervisor instead of playing the "rope-a-dope" game with the CSR on the phone? I've had several issues where VBPU was sending me cut-off notices for $10/$15 when I was in financial hardship and little/no income. VBPU acts like YOUR account is going to bankrupt them when they don't get their money. Here's another laugh. They still "think" the OLD business way. When I make a payment (online) I get Confirmation # saying it's going to be WIRED from my bank. The (ignorant) Supervisor said, "Well that's not proof of payment until we get it" BUT, they'd rather have a PHYSICAL check in their hand that takes (3) days to clear...the SAME amount of time a WIRE Transfer takes place! They must've graduated and got their DUH-ploma in Business but they don't think with Common $ense. When you move from (1) location to another...SHOW up in person and speak with a Supervisor...you wouldn't have had that billing issue. Ask them to remove the infraction from your Credit Report since it was THEIR ERROR.

I had a recent problem with a higher than average water bill. The problem was with the meter reader at the City of Chesapeake. I was told that HRSD gets its readings from the cities. If HRSD is issuing estimated bills, then someone should question whether the cities are providing the information, or whether HRSD is just ignoring it or is too busy to process it. My bill was adjusted and the new bill is back to normal. My question is this: if the bills were handled correctly before, what is it about this system that is more difficult or complicated to process information? Maybe that should be the focus of the investigation. Either way, the citizens are the ones that are suffering and being penalized. The City Manager and/or City Council of each city should take a long, hard look at this problem and should contact HRSD and demand answers for its citizens, and its budget. If HRSD is not getting paid, then the cities aren't getting paid either.

I also noted the error - 93% not 94%. 1% doesn't sound like much, but 1% of 460,000 accounts is 4,600...that's a significant number.

A breakdown of $10 or $12, I think we’d overlook,” said Chesapeake Councilman John de Triquet.
Is that so? What privately run business would John overlook that overcharged 32,000 customers and raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars? I'm guessing there'd be fraud charges in the blink of an eye. And here we have HRSD possibly raking in Millions of unearned dollars?
Is there any way we, the victims, can sue?
I also like the slight skewing of numbers. 32,000 bad accounts means a 93% success rate, not 94%. That 1% skewing represents 4600 people with nightmares and avoids the reality that we're getting close to 10% of HRSD accounts being in error.

It seems to appear that the same ineptitude that is prevalent in the SPSA has migrated to HRUBS. Maybe the HRUBS people need to pay some large "poor-performance-related" bonuses and figured the easiest way to do that would be to overbill customers. After all, most customers (the 94% figure given) won't take the time to challenge the bills, they just pay them (many by automatic debit, which the utility likes since they can freely overcharge that way).
Last fall, when HRUBS "updated" the software, they also "updated" my mailing address (though NOT at my request - it hadn't changed) and swapped the first and last names - so the bill was delivered AFTER the due date!
And for THIS we paid $13 million? Did the Norfolk City Manager have anything to do with this?

When I moved out of VB and had the water cut off, I never received the last bill. I did all fo the proper changes of address. One day at random, I pulled my credit record and there was a collection for 40 some odd dollars. I was shocked and outraged. After calling the water people, they said the bill had been delayed for months after I moved. They mailed it to my PRIOR address and I did not respond. I questioned how I got their other bills at my new address but they really did not have an answer, The rep just talked in circles. I paid the bill and had to sit w/ this derogatory mark on my credit for 24 months. You folks not receiving bills or only paying a portion may want to check your credit history. You had better address this while it is a news items because afterwards no one will care, nor will anyone at HRSD help you.

My bills were so high last year that we recieved letters from them saying my consumption was too much, 700 gallons a day to much. Obviously my home would have washed from its foundation if that was the case since it wasn't going down a drain of any type. So, hire the plumber and still no leak. So far I've been given exuses, but often reminded that they will shut me off, if they're not paid their $350.00-$400.00 which is what each bill was. Hope Chesapeake dump this fiasco and soon.

The entire HRUBS system needs to be completely audited by an outside agency. I'm one of those that didn't get a bill for months, then got a couple big ones to "catch up". I have no idea if they were correct, or not, I just knew they had to be paid. My monthy bill is back to what it should be in Norfolk, $50-60. That's acceptable. Different cities have different rates and different services, so they can't be compared.

A complete audit, comparing meter readings over a few years, with the rates for the different cities, and the amounts billed each month, would shed some light on the issue. It has to be an outside agency doing the audit. Refunds, with interest, should then be sent to those needing refunds. Shortages should be eaten by the contractor hired to implement the system!

As for the 94% figure, the standard in the IT world is 99.999%, or "5 nines". Anything less is considered broken.

We received a bill around Christmas in the amount of $1,400. Our highest bill barely shoots pass $120 a month. So, even if you went back six months, we were still over charged around $680. When we tried to explain that we haven't gotten a bill that high since we moved here in March 1994, we too, were giving excuses. And yes, the water meter being broke was one of them. It wasn't broke by the way, when we asked them to come check it. Then they make an excuse that they couldn't read it. But, somehow someone read it. They finally agreed that they "estimated" our bill. Well, that estimate is around $680 too much. So, how can the low man (or woman) on the totem poll go about having their bills reviewed for errors?