Some Collierville residents see water bills double. Here's what happened.
Some Collierville residents are seeing higher-than-usual water bills after a utilities worker was fired for not reading meters accurately, the town said.
In mid-February, Collierville began receiving calls from residents about higher-than-usual water bills and the town's utilities division began investigating possible causes, including software issues or broken meters.
Collierville Utilities discovered an employee, a meter reader, was "neglecting his responsibility to read utility meters," and the town ultimately terminated him from his position.
The town did not publicly identify the terminated employee.
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The employee, who had worked for the town since Dec. 6, 2021, would record zero usage per household on the water meters, which would bill the residents the base amount — about $8.
If the employee input zero usage for two months, the meter eventually corrects itself and would show the actual amount of water consumption for two months, therefore billing a resident one receipt for two months of water usage.
"Although customers are seeing higher than normal bills, they are being billed correctly for their usage over the several-month period," Public Utilities Director John Fox said. "This doesn't in any way take away from the severity and confusion caused by the meter reader who was terminated for his actions. Our priority is responding to our residents' concerns and sharing what information we know while we continue the investigation."
The water and sewer fees for some residents are double the amount of their two previous bills.
The town said the most affected areas include the northwest portion of town (Houston Levee Road, north of Poplar Avenue and west of Byhalia Road), and south of Poplar Avenue in the Winchester Road and Shea Road neighborhoods.
Collierville spokesperson Jennifer Casey said not every house in those areas was affected because the fired employee inconsistently recorded correct and incorrect usage.
Casey said the employee did this for "months," but the town is working on specifying how long this went on.
Dima Amro covers the suburbs for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at Dima.Amro@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @AmroDima.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Some Collierville residents see higher water bills: What we know
