By Mary Beth
Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
Cuyahoga Falls: The city’s public service director got an earful Sunday from residents angered by sudden increases in their utility bills.
The official, Eric Czetli, met informally with about 30 billpayers who gathered outside the utility billing office to get explanations about why their bills had spiked — in some cases, by hundreds of dollars. Councilman Adam Miller arranged the meeting in response to social media furor over the issue.
Czetli promised the residents at the gathering that the city would look at their accounts and work to resolve any problems. He and Miller gathered names, account information and contact information from the residents and promised them responses in a few days.
“We’re not shutting anybody off,” Czetli said. If necessary, he said, the city will work with residents to let them spread out their payments over time.
The problem stems from a change in the city’s billing system.
On June 13, the city started using new computer software to bill residents for electric, water, sewer, stormwater and sanitation services. Because problems with the changeover threw off the old 30-day billing cycles, some people received bills covering longer periods than normal, Czetli said.
Compounding the problem was this summer’s unusually hot, dry weather, which saw many people using more water and electricity than usual, he said.
Catheryn Allen’s utility bill rose from $205.66 in May to $697.26 in August. The earlier bill covered 30 days; the latter, 77.
“My bill has never been this high,” Allen said. She said she understood Czetli’s explanation, “but it still doesn’t make sense.”
Although the new bill format includes a bar graph showing monthly electricity consumption for the last year, some residents complained the bill doesn’t include their billing histories or the amount they pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity. Czetli said the new software vendor couldn’t transfer the old data, but the previous bills are available from the city.
“That’s just ridiculous,” remarked resident Chuck Gough, who said he worked in software security for 30 years. He said the data transfer shouldn’t have been a problem.
Gough later told a reporter he was also frustrated when he checked his electric meter, because the readout used symbols that were just gibberish to him. In addition, he was bothered that the change in billing cycles meant he got a bill earlier than he expected, so he wasn’t prepared with money in the bank to cover it.
“If I owe what I owe, that’s fine,” Gough said, but he said he lacks faith in the billing system.
That sentiment was shared by Stephen Scott, who called the explanations offered at the meeting “crap.”
“It’s not a billing cycle issue,” Scott said. He suspects either incorrect rates were uploaded into the computer or customers’ consumption is being reported incorrectly.
Czetli disputed those suppositions. He said the rates were checked repeatedly by different people, and meters are read in person when there’s a problem with the transmission of information from them.
Miller, who represents Ward 6 on the City Council, said he’ll make sure that the right people know about the billing problems and that the complaints are addressed.
“I’ll just continue to try to be the voice for the residents,” he said.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.