In an interview yesterday, Torres, Ind.-Saipan, said he doubts if CUC field staffers have actually been submitting exact consumption readings.
He said he has one CUC water meter near his residence that is hardly ever checked because weeds and vines have already blanketed it.
“I checked that meter every month and every time I came back it’s always covered with weeds,” Torres said.
He believes he is the only one looking at the meter and so he wonders how CUC comes up with its billings.
Torres said he wants CUC to unlock the water meters so the customers themselves can check their own consumption.
He has introduced House Bill 17-152 which he said will give CUC customers the chance to manage their monthly consumption of water.
Many residential and commercial customers, he said, have been continuously upset by CUC’s “astronomical and incredulous” water bill readings.
H.B. 17-152 states that “in the best interest of fair play, CUC customers should visibly monitor their water meters like they do with electric meters to keep a watchful eye on the mystery readings that plague their utility bills.”
The bill will require CUC to either unlock the water meter lid or give its customers the right to own a key to the water meter so they can inspect their own consumption periodically.
According to the bill, if anyone is caught tampering, altering or damaging any water meter, he will be prosecuted for vandalism, destruction of government property and theft of services.
Rep. Ralph S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, shares Torres’ concern. He said he asked CUC Executive Director Abe Utu Malae to verify “mounting disputes” over meter readings which many believe are just being “estimated.”
Malae said CUC’s management information system “does not track disputed accounts, therefore, various manual mechanisms have been developed to record and track disputes as they are filed.”
Malae said he could not provide Demapan the information he requested.
CUC’s tracking process is a weakness in the system, Malae added.
“This will be rectified as soon as our new [management information system] is in place,” Malae told Demapan.
Estimated readings, Malae added, are the result of many causes.
There are water meters that fail at abnormal rates and data processing system that crashes, he said.
These are the primary contributors to the increasing number of billing estimates in the past six months, he added.
Malae also admitted that CUC had a meter reader who misreported readings but he is no longer employed with the agency.
