PUNTA GORDA — With 9,143 still not reporting monthly water bills, the city of Punta Gorda is launching a pilot program to test new meter reading equipment.
In 2016, the city’s contracted with The Zenner Advanced Metering Infrastructure system. In time, the utilities department experienced faulty parts, which caused inaccurate readings.
After Hurricane Ian hit two years ago, the problem spread. Users didn’t receive bills. Then after four or five months, the accumulated bill was high for some.
Council members received complaints from resident who received estimated bills for hundreds of dollars.
Longtime resident Lilli Ritchie told City Council members she was billed $1,200 for a month’s usage and $780 for another month.
“I want a full refund,” she said, adding when she questioned the city about her bill they told her she needed to hire a leak detection company.
The city does offer a payment program to help those who has higher than usual bills.
Residents told the council the pilot program may be intrusive of homeowner’s privacy because the system needs Ring doorbell and Echo speakers technology to read the meters.