Quote:
Originally Posted by LeRoySmith
If someone were convinced that they were being cheated they could hire a plumber to purchase and install another water meter directly behind the utilities meter. The second meter could be used to verify or dispel the utilities meter reading. If it was a quality water meter and it disputed the utilities meter I'm confident it would get some attention. This would be an expensive option but it would certainly provide some solid data.
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Essentially, that is what was done. A second reader for the same mechanical system was used and it disputed the utility's meter.
The problem with installing a second meter today is the nature of the possible glitch in the utility's meter. If this was an issue that occurred frequently then the manufacturer would have identified it and corrected it. (and possibly they have but we will never find out because acknowledging that would lead to accepting that 80,000 meters needed to be replaced and that surely isn't going to happen) If this is a glitch then it is happening in maybe 12 of 80,000 meters over the course of a year. The odds of it happening at all are low, the odds of it happening a second time are nearly zero.
The utility will dispute the accuracy of the second reading today, just as they would dispute the accuracy of an entire second meter if it was placed tomorrow.
The District's response to this will be:
- The water went through the meter
- It isn't up to them to prove the water went through the meter
- We can show you that the meter correctly counts the amount of water going through it*
- You can pay to have the water shut off at the meter before you leave on a trip**
- You can petition for a one-time forgiveness of an abnormally high reading***
* The problem isn't that the meter incorrectly measures water going through it, the problem is the meter counts 12,500 or 25,000 gallons of water when water is NOT going through it. The test they run is the only test they have available but it is the wrong test.
** Since the problem seems to be a glitch that happens very rarely (12/80,000 maybe), turning the water off at the meter after you have been affected is like shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped. It will prevent a second glitch from happening but there was little chance it would happen the first time and almost zero chance of it happening the second.
*** This is probably the best solution to this problem. The meters are not 100% error free, nothing is. Accepting that on very rare occasions this glitch might happen and allowing forgiveness of that very rare occurrence is reasonable. It's just a shame it took so long to get to this point.