'Slap in the face’: Richmond Hill family's soaring water bill due to faulty meter

About 150 water meters were found slowing down or not working in Richmond Hill so far in 2019.

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 14, 2019
Sheila Wang

Neither the Canale-Parolas family nor the City of Richmond Hill had any idea how much water the family used in the past three months, but the water bill arrived nonetheless -- a lot higher than expected.

Richmond Hill homeowner Francesca Canale-Parolas was baffled that the city just threw a water bill at her family last month based on estimates, making no mention that their water meter had not worked for months.

“It’s unfair! It is really, really, really unfair,” Canale-Parolas said. “It’s no fault of ours that this has happened, but we are being penalized.”

The initial bill -- $680 -- for the past three months was about twice as high as the previous one, the mother of three said.

Canale-Parolas called the city’s water revenue services on Oct. 18, the day the bill arrived in the mail, and only then was she told that the water meter had not worked properly for a while.

A Neptune technician who replaced it the following day confirmed that her old one had been faulty and there was no way to find out when it stopped and what the actual reading should have been.

Subsequently, the city had to take a guess.

The bill dated Oct. 10 showed the Canale-Parolas family used roughly 274,000 litres of water from July 1 to Oct. 2, an estimate based on the average daily usage from around the same period of time last year, 1,022 litres per day.

In an email response to Canale-Parolas, the water revenue services cited the water and wastewater bylaw that states the customer should be charged on the basis of a “reasonable estimate” if a meter fails to register.

“It felt like a slap in the face by the bylaw,” said Canale-Parolas who raised questions about the way the city came up with the amount of water that her family used.

They couldn’t have possibly used that much water this year, Canale-Parolas said assuredly.

“We changed everything,” Canale-Parolas said, noting her family has become more environmentally conscious the past year and gone to great lengths to save on water and electricity.

Not only did they switch to water-efficient home appliances such as a new washing machine and a new dishwasher, there are also one fewer occupant living the house since her son moved out this August, which means much less flushing and fewer lengthy showers, she said.

That was why Canale-Parolas was pleased to see their January and April water bills reduced gradually, believing their efforts had paid off.

The water department believed not.

The initial water bill showed the city cancelled Canale-Parolas’s bills back to January, and back charged them based on their usage history last October.

It was because -- the city explained in an email -- they suspected the water meter has gradually been slowing down some time prior to July before coming to a full stop.

Either way, there is no way to tell.

What upset Canale-Parolas more than the bill itself was the lack of communication from the city, which could have notified the homeowner of the water meter issue several months ago but didn't say a word.

“At least tell me in advance, so we can get it changed sooner," she said, worrying there might have been more people dealing with the same issue.

She was right.

Her water meter was among the about 150 that were found either slowing down or not working at all so far this year in Richmond Hill, said spokesperson Libbi Hood. The city has issued work orders to replace them.

One way for residents to spot a possible faulty meter is perhaps a closer look at the water bill.

If it reads "estimate" under the read status instead of "regular," it means the water bill is based on estimates, the spokesperson responded when asked how the city notified people of a meter issue.

Between taking care of her husband with cancer and dealing with her own health problems, Canale-Parolas said it was the last thing the single-income family needed in their already stressful lives and she decided to push back against it.

Providing her water bills dating back to 2017, Canale-Parolas made a case to the city for a lower estimate of their water consumption.

In response, the city shrank her water bill by about $100, and offered a payment arrangement.

Canale-Parolas’s new bill now is at $584.

But would the new estimate be close enough to reflect all the efforts the family has made to conserve water?

Canale-Parolas has her doubts.

Rather than estimate, she asked why the city doesn't wait until getting readings from the new meter.