Charges raise a bad smell
NST 23/02/2007 R. NIRMALA, Klang

I ACCEPT the logic of paying for water and electricity services. However, our sewage management system leaves much to be desired as it requires citizens to prove non-usage to be exempted from payment.

I own an apartment which is rented out whenever I can find a tenant. As the apartment is empty most of the time, logic suggests there is no sewage outflow for Indah Water Konsortium to treat.

However, I have been slapped with backdated notices demanding payment. A call to IWK’s customer service yielded this reply: "You have to prove non-usage by getting a letter from the Water Supply Department to show that there was no water consumption during the months the apartment was vacant."

Mind you, the apartment is in another state. When asked why I had to prove non-usage when the onus was on the service provider to prove usage for demands of payment, the "I am mightier than thou" answer was "that’s the way it is".

Fairness dictates that charges for services must correspond with usage.

A proper system should be implemented whereby the billing is electronically tagged to water consumption rather than asking us to get a letter from the department to prove otherwise.

Naturally, the volume of sewage expelled by residents will correspond with the amount of water used to clean up.

Also, IWK thinks that the location of a house rather than the number of occupants in a household should be the basis to calculate charges.

Therefore, with three people in my household, I pay the same RM8 as my neighbour who has six people residing within.

Worse still, there is a cheaper rate for village folks who may be making hefty sewage contributions. Water consumption is a realistic measure of sewage contribution.