Economy
Residents shocked at error-filled invoices
BEN Lomond Water has confirmed that some of its customers received “extraordinary and obviously incorrect” water bills.
It comes after a $3.5 million billing system was introduced in February.
In its annual report Onstream, the centralised billing service which produces invoices for Ben Lomond, said the new system would provide “accurate billing and customer service for many years to come”.
Ravenswood’s Trish Purcell’s latest water bill came to more than $5000.
Her real estate agent called her with the news telling her that “she better sit down”.
“I almost had a heart attack in shock,” she said.
Her daughter Jodie received an overdue water bill despite saying that she never got the original invoice.
She said her mother began crying in panic when she received the huge bill.
Ben Lomond Water confirmed yesterday that the amount was wrong and it had issued a new bill.
A company spokeswoman said glitches with water meter readings in some “isolated” cases were to blame.
The company’s annual report showed it spent $12 million rolling out new water meters to some of its 58,400 customers.
Earlier in the week, the company apologised for billing errors where customers were told they had an overdue account, despite never receiving a first notice.
Yesterday on Tasmanian Times:
Apologies for mistakes in water bills
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