BATH

Bath Water District has reimbursed Hyde School an unspecified sum for an accidental overbilling discovered three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the city is also in the process of resolving a sewer billing issue with Bath Iron Works.

The Hyde episode involved both overbilling and underbilling, Bath Water District Superintendent Trevor Hunt said, with the net result an overcharge to the school.

Hunt would not divulge the amount of the Hyde School overbilling.

“I’m governed by Maine’s Public Utilities Commission rules and can’t release that information on customers,” he said. “I can say that I’m dealing with Hyde or Bath issues.”

The overbilling at Hyde was “nontypical,” Hunt said, because the problem arose from a large fire line meter on the water main.

Cynthia Morgan, executive business manager at Hyde School, also declined to divulge the amount of the overbilling.

“Hyde School and the city of Bath have reached an amicable conclusion,” Morgan said.

Bath Water District installed a new water main on the back side of the Hyde campus years ago, Hunt said.

The error occurred in the installation on the register portion of the meter, Hunt said. It read in thousands, instead of hundreds, of cubic feet. The water district investigated a reported overbilling and immediately informed the school once the cause was discovered, Hunt said.

The reimbursement to Hyde will not pose a significant monetary problem for the water district, Hunt said.

“It will impact the budget — but not hugely,” he said. “It will not significantly alter us from doing our job.”

The BIW issue is “much different and much more complicated,” Hunt said. A meter malfunction arose from sewer-specific meters, he said.

While the water district monitors the meters and does the billings, the city receives the payments, Hunt said.

In recent years, Hunt said, the off-and-on part of the meter malfunctioned. The meter was repaired, but an error occurred in creating the bill from the new readings, he said.

“The city, which is the recipient of sewer payments, is resolving the over and underbilling,” Hunt said.

City Manager William Giroux said on Wednesday the city is engaged with BIW on the sewer bill situation.

“BIW was overbilled and they were underbilled, and they look to be about equal,” Giroux said. “The water district does the billing, and the clerk made an error that resulted in overbilling. The malfunctioning meters resulted in underbilling. It may be weeks before we know, but it looks like a wash.”

Because of the clerk’s error, Giroux said the city probably will take over the issuing of the BIW sewer billing.

In 1915, the state Legislature created the Bath Water District to replace the Bath Water Company, which had provided drinking water to the region since 1887. BWD was established as a quasi-municipal organization under the direct ownership of its customers, separate from the city.

Customers wanted a district because it allowed several municipalities to be serviced by one organization. Water districts have many of the same characteristics of local governments, but differ in that they do not collect property taxes and are regulated by the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

The Bath Water District services approximately 3,500 residences and businesses with a population of about 15,000 people. The district obtains all its water from Nequasset Lake, which it pumps into two tanks using approximately 50 miles of pipe.

The system is operated by a staff of 11 full-time employees in four operational departments: pumping and treatment, customer service, distribution and administration.

lgrard@timesrecord.com

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