I am writing to highlight a concern with the new format of the National Water Commission bills and their apparent attempt to gather more revenue.

I just received the new-format bill and the first thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the old account number that was on the old bill had been replaced by a customer and premise number combination (similar to the JPS).

That by itself was not a big issue, even though they had neglected to advise customers beforehand that this change was coming!

Other points

Further examination of the bill revealed a few other interesting points:

1. The billing period was 45 days instead of the normal 30 to 31 of all my bills in the last 10 years (at least).

2. The bill claimed to be an estimate, but had a meter reading on it.

3. The purported consumption was almost triple the amount for each of the last 12 months as evidenced by their consumption history bar graph

4. On checking my older bills, I realised that over the years, I had been getting one actual bill every three months, with the rest being estimates. Doesn't this breach OUR regulations?

I also noticed that whenever an actual bill is sent, it invariably takes in the previous months that had been estimated when coming up with the charge, but does not factor in amounts previously paid on those estimated bills, in effect charging me the consumer twice for the same consumption.

I have no problem in paying for water (or any other commodity) legitimately used, but this current bill does not fall into that category.

NWC and Minister Chang, how come? How come? How come?

I am,etc.,

DEAN C WIGGAN

wiggy_dw@hotmail.cpom