FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Residents in Florence are wondering why they’re still receiving unusually high water bills five months after city officials said a glitch in the billing system would resolve itself by the next billing cycle.
The issue was first brought to our attention in November when some residents reported an increase of more than 100 dollars on their bills.
“My bill usually runs, even on a bad month, between $35 to maybe $43. This particular month when I got my bill, my bill was $188,” said Sequoia Williams in November.
City officials say their billing system underestimated the water usage one month and then corrected it the next month which caused some bills to jump surprisingly high.
One Murrells Inlet man was shocked when he was mailed a $64 bill for water usage at his former house in Florence. Bernard Moore and his wife haven’t lived in that house in the past few months, so he was confused as to why he was being billed for service at a vacant house. He says he even went back to the house to check up on it and see if the water was somehow turned on or if there was a leak.
“I thought I had a bad leak or something. I went to Florence last Monday and I had no problems at the house,” said Bernard Moore. “Everything was shut off. No water leaks in the yard or anything. I really didn’t know what to do.”
Today, we asked Collections manager Tom Shearin why residents are still being overcharged five months later. We also showed him Moore’s bill. He said he spoke with Moore and told him he would adjust his bill, and also explained what went wrong.
“It was actually an estimate of, I believe it was 3,000 gallons. If that estimate was high when we read it the next month, it would give him a credit,” Shearin explained. “But I went ahead and told him I see what it was and we took it off.”
Shearin also says each month, the city takes an estimate for a half of residents’ meters and a read for the others, which is why some people were billed incorrectly. He also says the city is looking to incorporate a new system which will allow them to take a read for all customers every month.
