They say you pay 'a small price for a big service' but one Portmore, St Catherine, resident is now questioning the credibility of the National Water Commission (NWC) after she was served with a whopping $48 million bill just days ago.

Speaking with The Gleaner's Power 106 FM yesterday, the woman, Hortense Hall, said, "I am really disappointed to know that it was an actual bill, perhaps if it were an estimated bill and I was estimated for $48 million then I could say well this is a big error but this is what should be on their banner system as an actual reading."

Yesterday, THE STAR managed to acquire a copy of the bill and when examined, it showed that a payment of $2,000 was made for the month of June, bringing forward a balance of $305.47.

The bill in question, dated July 25, 2011 shows a current charge of $3,579,859.37. It also shows a cancel and re-bill charge of $44,508,335.58. These charges bring the total amount to $48,086,500.42. This amount was to be paid yesterday.

meter

Hall, who lives on a residential property in Greater Portmore, said that the meter for which she was billed serves a total of four persons. She said on average she would usually pay between $2,000 and $2,500.

She explained that about two months ago she acquired another property and thereafter applied for a new water meter for that property. However, instead of installing the meter at that property she claims that the NWC went to her existing property and dug out that meter.

She reasoned, "About ten minutes before I got the bill I was on my veranda looking at a water bill, and I'm saying to myself, bwoy it's the last estimated bill I'm gonna pay for because I don't understand why Water Commission keep sending me estimated bill and they came the other day, dug out my meter, put in a new meter and I still getting estimated bills."

THE STAR understands that when Hall contacted the NWC she was told that the bill was erroneous but since then she has not been given any assurance as to when the new bill will be generated.

"To be honest with you, I'm looking at it to say if this is a big error imagine those small errors, because if I receive a water bill, lets say for $6,000 I probably would have gone to pay it although I really know I don't use so much water."

When contacted, Charles Buchanan, NWC's corporate public relations manager, explained that Hall should never have received the bill even if the system produced it.

obviously wrong

He noted, "Something would obviously be wrong and that would be addressed by the commission and very likely the systems would have already been in place to address an error like that."

He further said that there is 99.7 or 99.9 per cent accuracy at the NWC but there are instances when errors will occur.

"We will have to check on the particulars to determine what might if anything need to be done to address the specifics," he said.

Meanwhile, THE STAR understands that since yesterday several persons have been calling radio talk shows to complain about their water bills.