[RBS] [BS/RBS list] Water bill -"common" water usage

[Aryeh Sonnenberg]

And I will add one more thing (Ephraim, INCREDIBLE JOB HERE), the city
collects first, then asks questions later. It is up to you to make the
claim, and then try to get them to explain why they did what they did.

Aryeh Sonnenberg 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ephrayim Naiman [mailto:ejnaiman at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 1:14 AM
To: RBS2 list; RBS list; BS list
Cc: Tanya Benchetrit
Subject: RE: [BS/RBS list] Water bill -"common" water usage

Dear All,

Due to the new water penalties - I am posting this answer to the lists -
even though it is quite lengthy.  If you don't have a "Tzericha
Meshuteffet", you can ignore this post.

Intro: Our dear Iriya has an extremely antiquated Arnona/water billing
system which frequently makes whopping mistakes and the Geviya department is
clueless how to fix them.  In the area of "Tzericha Meshuteffet", they are
particularly helpless.

Note: A tricky issue here is that water for gardening is actually supposed
to be charged at different rates than regular water.  This is especially an
issue when it comes to "Tzericha Meshuteffet" for ginot watering which has
even more complicated rates; something the Beit Shemesh billing system can't
possible program.

OK, first and foremost, if you are receiving "Tzericha Meshuteffet" bills,
you should confirm the Iriya's calculations are correct.  The simplest way
to do this is to mark down reading of your main water meter for your
building and all the sub-meters at the beginning and end of the Iriya's
2-month billing period.  If, as mentioned below by Tanya, you take the total
meter reading and subtract all the sub-meters and you get a difference above
0, then you have "Tzericha Meshuteffet" and you should check that the number
you calculate is the same as the Iriya's.

You now have a number of possible scenarios:

1. If you confirm via your *own* readings of the meter that you have
   "Tzericha Meshuteffet", and you *DO* have "common water usage" like for
   project ginot and the number jives with the Iriya's number, then you're
OK.
   Note: You may not be charged "Tzericha Meshuteffet" every billing cycle,
   in case the number is too low to split among all the residents or
   because your project's "Tzericha Meshuteffet" has to be generated
manually.
   Also note that there is still the issue listed above that the Iriya is
   charging you at the new penalty rates which is illegal if the water
   is being used for watering project ginot.

2. If you confirm via your *own* readings of the meter that you *have*
   "Tzericha Meshuteffet", yet you *DON'T* have any water being used
   outside of people's homes...  Then you either:
   A. Have a leak
   B. Somebody is using your main water pipe,
      like maybe cleaning the grounds or their car with the fire hose
   C. Doubtful but possible, one of the meters is broken
   A leak can be tested by turning off everyone's water and see if the main
   water meter is still spinning.  The other 2 possibilities are harder to
catch.

3. If you confirm via your *own* readings of the meter that you have
   "Tzericha Meshuteffet", and you *DO* have "common water usage" but the
number
   seems high, this could be due to all the reasons listed above in "2.".
   Anomaly: If you have a project with a number of buildings,
            it is not always possible for the Iriya to split up the
            "Tzericha Meshuteffet" among all the buildings.
            In our project for example, our building of 12 families
            gets the "Tzericha Meshuteffet" bill for the ginot
            that are used by 40 families!

4. If you confirm via your *own* readings of the meter that you have
   "Tzericha Meshuteffet", and you *DO* have "common water usage" but it
   *DOESN'T* agree with the Iriya's number, this is because the Iriya's
   list of the main meter and sub-meters is incorrect (as posted by Chanie
   Rosenfelder).  What you have to do is go down to the Iriya with a list
   of the meter and sub-meter ID numbers and get them to straighten out the
mess.
   (Be warned that our Iriya has *serious* problems dealing with numbers,
   as evidenced by house addressing schemes :-)

Kol Tuv,

-Ephrayim Naiman
ejnaiman at levhatorah.org
-----Original Message-----
From: tanyab01 at mscc.huji.ac.il On Behalf Of Tanya Benchetrit
Sent: 2009-11-17 12:53
To: RBS2 list; RBS list; BS list
Subject: [BS/RBS list] Water bill -"common" water usage


If you live in a building you may have noticed that you are billed for
"tzricha meshutefet" ("common water usage") in addition to the water you use
in your apartment. The iriyah calculates this amount by reading the
building's main water meter and deducting the readings of each
individual/private water meter. This amount is then divided equally among
the residents/apartments of the building. The number you find on you bill by
"tzricha meshutefet" should usually be no higher than 2 (this obviously
depends on the number of apartments in the building and how much water is
used).

It seems that several buildings in RBS A have been billed for a much higher
amount (11-19 per apartment for a building with 12 apartments) on a regular
basis - not because of a leak - with a leak the amount will systematically
increase, we've experienced that too); an amount comparable to the average
usage of a family (note that logically much less water is used in the common
areas of the building than in an apartment). I should mention that your
water rate is affected by any increase in usage - the tzricha meshutefet is
not calculated separately - the higher it is the higher the rate you pay.

If you have experienced this problem please reply by email with the address
of your building and amount. If you have solved this problem in your
building, I would be especially grateful if you would let me know how. If
you have any other constructive, knowledgeable insights I would love to hear
them too.

Chodesh tov,
Tanya Benchetrit
tanyab01 at mscc.huji.ac.il