Title
Communication from the Mayor relative to Shortened Water Meter Billing Cycles
To: Malden City Council
From: Mayor Gary Christenson
CC: Public Works Commissioners
Date: October 16, 2015
Re: Shortened Water Meter Reads
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Currently, water meters are read on the 15th of each month which covers the prior 30 day period. For example, meters read on October 15th cover usage from September 16th through October 15th. The process of uploading the data, calculating bills and the preparation for mailing the information has the bills arriving to customers on or about December 1st. The end result is that 45 days have passed between when the meter is read to when the customer receives the actual bill.
One of the sections of a current bill serves to inform the customer of a potential water leak. These codes are generated when the meters sense an abnormal constant flow of water during various time periods. Shortening the time period between the reading and mailing will help to notify customers more quickly of leaks and therefore save customers cost overruns. At my recommendation and in consultation with the City Engineer and Treasurer Offices, the Public Works Commission voted on August 11th to shorten the billing window which will begin to address this problem.
In order to implement a shortened (30-day) read-to-billing cycle, it will be necessary for customers to receive a one-time bill containing 45 days of usage after which we would revert back to normal 30-day usage periods. Under the plan, rather than reading on the 15th of the month, meters would be read on the first of the month for the prior 30 days. However, the first bill would contain the extra 15 days usage. For example, assuming we moved forward with this change effective November 1st, a meter read on November 1st would include usage from September 16th to November 1st. These bills would then be mailed on or a...
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