Lawmakers, Residents Cry Foul On Kent County Water Bill Hike

COVENTRY, RI — Kent County lawmakers are speaking out after residents complained about a sudden spike in their water bills.

"Instead of scrambling to make excuses that make no sense, it's time for the Kent County Water Authority to recognize that something has gone seriously wrong with their billing and take corrective action to address the problem," Sen. Leonidas Raptakis said. "This problem is only going to explode when they send the remaining two-thirds of their bills out and people see they are being wildly overcharged. I'm not going away, my legislative colleagues aren't going away and consumers being victimized by this agency are not going away. The KWCA needs to fix this mess and they need to do it now."

In a statement, the water authority said there was "a tremendous amount of misinformation" on social media and that they received so many complaints from residents that they couldn't keep up with the phone calls, and asked anyone with issues to send them via email to customerservice@kentcountywater.org. The increased bills were blamed on several sources, including 30 percent higher water usage, on average, during the summer months, downstream leaks in the meter and higher household use in general, with so many people home all day due to the pandemic.

"A common denominator with these rising bills appears to be the installation of new water meters which were mandated by the water authority with the threat of water shutoffs," Rep. Patricia Serpa added. "This particular water meter has been tied to skyrocketing water bills in other places in the country such as North Brunswick, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia. Simply put, our ratepayers deserve much better, and during this time of complete economic and health uncertainty, this process being carried out by the water authority is plainly wrong."

According to the statement from the department, the new meters are more accurate than the previous ones, some of which are more than two decades old. Because parts degrade over time, the old meters may have been under-reporting water usage, it said.

"Far too many ratepayers were blindsided by this dramatic increase for these cases to be anomalies," Rep. George Nardone said. "Something is clearly wrong, and it must be remedied immediately. At a time when so many are stretching a dollar as far as possible, these billing discrepancies are unconscionable."

According to the joint statement from the lawmakers, one condo association with nine units reported that their bill more than quadrupled from $889 in the previous quarter to $4,200.

The lawmakers sent a letter to the water authority's chairperson, Robert Boyer, and David Simmons, the chief engineer and executive director, calling for an investigation into the bill increases. The letter also called for a freeze on all water shutoffs related to disputed bills from the most recent quarter.

In a conference call with the Kent County lawmakers, the state's Division of Public Utilities said they can get involved after the water authority investigates individual complaints.

"Our message to the Coventry ratepayers affected by these water bills is that we and our offices are here to assist you," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. "We know that times are tough for everyone right now and if you believe there is a problem with your water bill, please contact us to help you. And finally, if this problem is not solved in a timely and acceptable manner, legislative action will be pursued to correct this injustice."