Virginia Woman Receives Refund For 44 Years Of Wastewater Bills With No Service
In general, ratepayers who complain about their wastewater bills are usually undervaluing the amount of work and ingenuity that goes into transporting and treating household sewage before it is released into the environment. But a recent case from Richmond, VA, demonstrates that, sometimes, disgruntled ratepayers have good reason to be frustrated.
“Zenobia Gary paid a city wastewater fee for more than four decades until she discovered her home was never connected to Richmond’s sewer system,” NBC 12 reported.
After a blockage caused a toilet backup, a plumber searching Gary’s yard for the problem found a septic tank that was collecting the sewage from her home, apparently without anyone realizing it. She found that her sewer line was never connected to Richmond’s solid waste system, even though she received monthly bills suggesting the contrary.
“Richmond services thousands through public utilities and Zenobia is one in 500,000 with this problem,” NBC 12 reported in another story about the issue. “She says she never smelled anything and had no idea she had a septic tank.”
The city traced the problem back to an annexation in 1970 that saw Richmand take over part of neighboring Chesterfield. Because the septic tank was not documented, the city assumed Gary’s home was connected to the system like its neighbors.
Gary claimed that she’s paid more than $26,000 in wastewater fees over the years, plus the cost of the plumber, and sought a refund of that amount. Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) did not immediately comply.
“In a letter to Zenobia, DPU says it doesn’t have any usage records for the first 20 years of false billing, 1976 to 1996” per NBC 12. “So, it’s guessing to produce a refund amount based on rate estimates and the family’s water usage, not wastewater. The next 24 years, 1996 to 2020, Richmond says it calculated Zenobia’s actual payments for wastewater she did not receive and came up with a figure on the low side of what the homeowner wanted.”
Ultimately, Gary accepted the city’s settlement, but she does not want the amount to be disclosed.
For more on how drinking water and wastewater utilities communicate with ratepayers, visit Water Online’s Consumer Outreach Solutions Center.