Apology for water billing issue

A letter is being sent out to all customers regarding the recent water bill they received. The message is below:

Coonamble Shire Council offers a sincere apology to you regarding the water bill you recently received for the quarter ending June 2024 (the last quarter of financial year 2023/24). It has not been calculated correctly so please disregard it.

The basic problem we have been trying to fix is faulty meter readings that flow through into payment calculations and bills.

Council outsources meter readings and payment calculations to external suppliers. Council acted upon their advice and reporting in good faith and did some spot checks before sending the recent bills out. However, as soon as we became aware of these persistent errors we prepared this advice to customers.

The delay in correcting this fourth quarter bill for the 2023-24 financial year has meant that the first quarter and second quarter water bills for the current financial year (2024/25) have not yet been issued because we needed to fix the underlying problems first.

Customers should not pay the bill they have just been sent and do not have to do anything at this stage. We will send out a corrected bill in the first quarter of 2025, followed by the delayed bills for this financial year. We will aim to spread the bills out to minimise the financial impact on customers.

The key principle I can assure all customers of is that no-one will be overcharged, and no one will have to pay for more water than they have actually used. We are taking the time to make sure we get the readings and bills right, so our charging system is accurate and fair.

Our customer service team is available to assist customers and provide any further information they might need. Please call on 02 6827 1900

Bruce Quarmby
ACTING GENERAL MANAGER