Global Water to nix meter-checking fee for exorbitant bills

Maricopa utility company Global Water is now waiving fees for certain customers after recent outcry over the company’s billing practices.

Residents have complained that after receiving unusually high bills they would ask the company to double-check their meters and then often be stuck with a fee for re-reading the meter.

Per long-standing Global Water policy, the customer is not charged this standard fee of $30 if the meter was indeed malfunctioning. However, if the meter was found to be functioning properly, the customer would be charged the $30.

Global Water Client Services Supervisor Beth Huerta said this is no longer the case.

“If their bill is more than $200,” Huerta said, “we’re going to waive the fee to go out and re-read the meter to make sure it’s all good.”

The utility has been under recent scrutiny for this and other customer service related issues. Efforts by community members hoping to investigate the company’s billing practices and customer service record resulted in a public meeting Feb. 7, at which numerous customers confronted Global Water executives. Most of the concerns aired at the meeting were directed at spiked bills and “questionable” fees including the $30 meter-reading fee.

The General Manager Jon Corwin said the decision to waive the $30 fee was indeed a result of criticism voiced at the meeting and elsewhere.

“We listen to the feedback from our customers and try to take it to heart,” Corwin said. “So, we’re trying to make some changes based on that feedback.”

For the fee to be waived, Corwin said, customers must have a single month’s bill of an amount higher than $200. That amount excludes outstanding balances from previous billing cycles.