Northeast Public Sewer District

The Northeast Public Sewer District is in receipt of your correspondence for the referenced complaint dated June 20, Your letter states, “We have received additional correspondence from the consumer the information has been reviewed by your caseworker ” and “The new information provided by the consumer may have brought up new concerns that your Revdex.com caseworker felt need some clarification.” I called to speak to the caseworker to see what was not clear about our response and was informed by [redacted] that there was no caseworker assigned to this complaint The statements about a caseworker reviewing information and feeling our response needed clarification are fraudulent statements as no caseworker has been assigned You further state that you wish to minimize back-and-forth communication It is apparent that you are simply passing the consumers statements thru to us without any evaluation and have no desire to minimize the back-and-forth communication as you state in your letter Could this be so you can sell the arbitration services you mention in the last paragraph? Due to the unethical behavior of the Revdex.com we will not respond to this complaint via the Revdex.com and will communicate directly with our customer Northeast Public Sewer District [redacted] , PEExecutive Director [redacted] || Fenton, MO 63026p [redacted] || f [redacted] www.northeastsewer.org

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: NorthEast Public Sewer District is not accurately describing why sewer is more expensive than water My water bill is MUCH lower than my sewer I enjoy hearing of why they charge more but I would LOVE to be able to switch sewer companies as well The water company uses a winter average as well Why did my water invoice decrease to $while my sewer invoice is still at $42? NorthEast Public Sewer is correct in saying that my sewer bill isn't twice as much as my water bill BUT it is 85% larger....YES 85% more This is not acceptable I am attaching my water bill since NorthEast Public Sewer District doesn't believe I am being invoiced at $ Please see attached bill due 6/15/2017. NorthEast Public Sewer District needs to look into their records and see who is being invoiced since obviously, they're wrong in my case Who knows what other cases they're wrong
Sincerely,
*** ***

Re: Complaint ID [redacted]To Whom it May Concern,This letter is in response to your correspondence dated June 12, 2017 with respect to Revdex.comcomplaint ID [redacted].The complaint says that the customer is being billed $22 for water and $52 for sewer. TheDistrict uses a billing calculation for residential...

customers called Winter Averaging. That is,residential bills have two parts, the base charge and the unit charge. The unit charge iscalculated using the average of a customer’s water usage from the billing cycles for the wintermonths (January, February & March). A customer’s bill calculation looks like this:SB = BC + UCR x WAWhere,SB = sewer billBC = base chargeUCR = unit charge rateWA = winter average divided by 1000The winter average is updated annually in June to that year’s winter average calculation basedon the water usage as reported by the customer’s water utility (PWSD #2 in the case of [redacted]). Ms. [redacted]’s winter average reduced to 3,333 gallons per month in winter 2017from 6,000 gallons per month in 2016, resulting in her monthly sewer bill decreasing to $42.30for 2017-18 from $51.81 for 2016-17. According to PWSD #2’s website (see attached printout),when Ms. [redacted] used 6,000 gallons of water, her water bill would be $40.68, not $22.00 so is itreally more than twice her sewer bill? A better comparison of costs for these two utilities billswould be total annual billing. If her water usage spikes in the summer, she will pay more forwater, but her sewer bill will remain constant until the next winter average update.Why does the District utilize Winter Averaging to calculate the sewer bill? Water metermeasures monthly water use, but there is no meter on wastewater lines. Winter averagingprovides a measure that is generally reflective of the amount of water that goes directly intothe sanitary sewer system from a property while eliminating water uses in the summer such aslawn watering, car washing, etc. However, while the District uses Winter Averaging of thewater usage, a sewer utility is different than a water utility just as your electric, telephone, orgas bill is different because they are a different utility and their cost structure is different. Whyis that cost structure different?First, let’s look at the differences in the treatment of drinking water and wastewater. Whetherthe water is obtained from a river, lake or well, the fundamentals of making drinking waterhave changed little over the years: settle it, filter it, and disinfect it. That method produceshigh-quality drinking water in systems the world over.The complexity of wastewater treatment, on the other hand, has increased dramatically overthe years. In its earliest form at the turn of the century, wastewater treatment (if it wasprovided at all) consisted of screening out the really big objects, then discharging the rest to anearby creek. Fifty years later came settling tanks to remove smaller solids… but the finishedproduct remained terribly polluted, by today’s standards. Over the last couple of decades,treatment has evolved to include sophisticated biological systems for removing organicmaterials, complicated filters, and modern disinfection methods. The water released by thetreatment facility is usually cleaner than the receiving stream! The advanced systems are costlyto build and operate, increasing the overall cost of wastewater treatment, in most cases.Another major reason lies in the differences between the systems for water distribution andwastewater collection. Drinking water flows through pressurized pipelines. It can move uphillas well as downhill. This means that water pipelines can be constructed at minimum depthbelow the ground surface, often above the rock layers. On the other hand, wastewater mustflow by gravity – downhill the whole way. In rolling terrain, sewer lines must sometimes bebuilt deep beneath the ground, well into hard rock. Trench excavation – especially in rock - isthe largest part of the cost of building a pipeline. The deeper the pipe, the higher the cost ofconstruction.Another cost factor lies in where the two types of pipelines can be built. Since sewers rely ongravity to cause flow, they must be built in lower-lying areas so adjacent homes will be at ahigher elevation. Right-of-way must be acquired and cleared, adding to overall costs. Waterline locations however, are not restricted by the laws of gravity flow. Water pipelines can bebuilt in already-cleared road rights-of-way, often above the tough rock layers. This constructionis much easier and quicker.For all these reasons, the cost of collecting and treating wastewater has increased far morethan treating and distributing drinking water.With respect Ms. [redacted] being unable to attend the Board of Trustees meeting, I can’t offermuch assistance. The Board meets monthly at 6:30 p.m. because this is the time when mostcustomers could attend if they wanted. She can send her complaint in writing to the Board orsubmit a variance request. This complaint and my response will be submitted to the Board fortheir information. There is a variance request form on the District’s websitewww.northeastsewer.org or we can mail one to her is she does not have internet access.Please note, that a variance is typically granted only in those instances where the water usagedata would not reasonably reflect the customer’s usage of the sewer system, such as a waterleak.Should you have any questions or comments, please advise.Sincerely,Northeast Public Sewer District

The Northeast Public Sewer District is in receipt of your correspondence for the referenced complaint dated June 20, 2017.  Your letter states, “We have received additional correspondence from the consumer…the information has been reviewed by your caseworker…” and “The new information provided by the consumer may have brought up new concerns that your Revdex.com caseworker felt need some clarification.”  I called to speak to the caseworker to see what was not clear about our response and was informed by [redacted] that there was no caseworker assigned to this complaint.  The statements about a caseworker reviewing information and feeling our response needed clarification are fraudulent statements as no caseworker has been assigned.  You further state that you wish to minimize back-and-forth communication.  It is apparent that you are simply passing the consumers statements thru to us without any evaluation and have no desire to minimize the back-and-forth communication as you state in your letter.  Could this be so you can sell the arbitration services you mention in the last paragraph? Due to the unethical behavior of the Revdex.com we will not respond to this complaint via the Revdex.com and will communicate directly with our customer.  Northeast Public Sewer District [redacted], PEExecutive Director [redacted] || Fenton, MO  63026p [redacted] || f [redacted]www.northeastsewer.org