How can a Richmond resident be charged for “metered sewer” when there is no such thing as a residential sewer meter in Richmond?
The answer to this riddle is what Douglas Symons sought from city council on Monday evening.
Symons pointed to a quarterly water bill from the city that includes a line item of “metered sewer.” He asked council why there would be a charge on his bill that seemed to show his sewage was being metered. And, if his sewer usage was being metered, what was the measurement.
City staff explained that, in fact, sewer usage is not metered, however water usage is and the sewer usage is calculated to be 90 per cent of whatever the water usage is.
This explains why Symons’ “metered sewer” bill went up in the summer, even though his sewer usage went down. Because it was a dry summer, he used more water for his garden. And because the water was going into the ground, not the sewer, his sewer usage bill should have gone down if it was being metered.
“Not a drop of that went in the sewer system and yet you’re charging me for that – that’s wrong,” he said.
Regardless, calculating the sewage cost as a percentage of water consumed is a standard way of measuring it across the region, according to city staff.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie said that while the communication was extensive when the metering program started, the city should revisit how the information could be better communicated on residents’ bills.
However, he also said that to try to charge people based on usage (for example, registering how many people live in a house or whether they water their garden) could introduce “enormous complexity” into the billing system.
