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Plenty of Excuses

Is anyone else feeling assaulted by the Regional Water Authority (RWA) lately? No? Perhaps they should check their water bill. The RWA announced on its website last month it would be moving to monthly billing, saying how convenient it would be for all of us to send them money every 30 days instead of 90. Yes, very thoughtful of them.

What the article did not say is that the service fee would also increase. And dramatically! For example, the service fee on my bill increased by 116 percent. Formerly, I paid a $61 service fee on the 90 day bill, equaling about $20 per month. Now the bill has $44 for service, per month. I found no announcement of this insane increase.

RWA’s website’s customer service FAQ still refers to a 90-day billing cycle, so that’s big help. I’m sure the RWA has plenty of excuses for the increase: infrastructural improvements, environmental mitigation, and so on. Certainly, Branford’s Main Street dig-a-thon was nothing cheap. Still, it would have been normal to hear some proper justification for any rise in fees, much less a 100 percent increase.

Being a customer who is now paying more for a pipe hookup than for the water coming out of the faucet, I’m curious to know just what kind of super-awesome service I’m supposed to be getting here.

Glenn Stefanovics

Branford