Flush with savings
Maybe. The city of Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department is replacing every single water meter — 275,000 of them — with new automated meters that don’t require someone to come out and read them. Further, the city is picking up the tab: property owners aren’t billed for the installation.
There’s just one catch: if they don’t find you at home when the installers come by, you’ll need to schedule an appointment to have the meter installed. And if you don’t, DWSD will bill you $30 for any subsequent manual meter reading.
The installation takes about 45 minutes, and the water is shut off for only about 15 minutes. The new system will, they say, eliminate estimated bills entirely, and leak detection will be greatly simplified.
Interestingly, the mailers being sent out to announce the arrival of the installers are being printed in English, Spanish and Arabic; I was thinking that most of the Arabic-speaking folks around town were in the ‘burbs, notably Dearborn and Hamtramck, but DWSD pumps water to them too. The average water/sewer bill in the city of Detroit this past summer [pdf] was $62.75. Suburban customers are billed locally, and DWSD takes a cut.
fillyjonk »
23 November 2009 · 7:25 pm
If you make an appointment, and they don’t show when you arrange to be at home, do you still get charged for subsequent meter readings? Or are these guys a little more reliable than the “We’ll be out some time between 8 am and 5 pm, Monday OR Tuesday OR Thursday” cable company?
A bit surprised French isn’t on there. Then again, I guess Ontario is closer to Detroit then Quebec is.
CGHill »
23 November 2009 · 8:05 pm
They say there’s a two-hour window for an appointment, which is pretty good if they stick to it.
fillyjonk »
23 November 2009 · 8:51 pm
Uh-huh. My cable company says that too.
ms7168 »
24 November 2009 · 9:12 am
I guess I have just been lucky. Every time I have ever gotten a two hour window they have shown up usually within the first hour.