Water bills put households in Moonbi and Kootingal under the pump

The water bill for the summer quarter did include one more month than usual, but homeowners say taking that into account still doesn't make their charges add up.

"I understand the bill ran for an extra 38 days more than normal, but it's jumped from $88 to $307, and the usage has gone from 53 kilolitres (kl) for the quarter to 184kl. You don't jump from 53 to 184 in an extra 38 days," Kootingal resident Rhonda Rains said.

Many residents are blaming the increased charges on the roll out of new smart water meters, which measure consumption in real time, but council says the meters aren't at fault.

"All recent water bills received by residents and businesses within the Tamworth Local Government area were generated using data from the old manual water meters reflecting the period of December 2022 to April 2023," a spokesperson for Tamworth Regional Council said.

"Therefore, an increase in water consumption cannot be attributable to the installation of the Smart Meter Readers. The next water bill received will be reflective of the smart meter reader data."

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Council's alternative explanation puts the blame on a sustained period of hot weather, the use of evaporative coolers, and internal leaks.

"The billing period of December 2022 to April 2023 delivered late, hot and dry conditions to the end of summer which carried through into the start of autumn, therefore increases in water bills may be attributable to an increase in usage over the summer period," the council spokesperson said.

But residents say this explanation doesn't hold water in the face of such mountainous price hikes.

"My daughter lives in the next street over from us and hers is exactly the same. It's jumped up to $298 from the last bill of $73," Ms Rains said.

"When hers was the same I started to think something's not right here."

So she took to Facebook to see if others in the community shared her concerns.

The response was immediate and explosive.

"Something's not quite right. Ours was four times higher than the previous one," one local claimed.

"Our current bill is 150kl more than the previous three years in total and we have checked for leaks on our smart meter since receiving this bill - as per instructions on our currently received bill - and there is definitely no leak," another irate ratepayer said.

In less than a day Ms Rains' post gathered more than 100 comments from other Kootingal and Moonbi residents, most to say their water bills now cost an arm and a leg.

"Ours is normally way under $100 and this time it's $931. We don't have a pool and [we] run the house on tank water," another local said.

Those who complained to Tamworth council say they all got the same advice: check for leaks.

"They keep saying we've got leaks, but we can't all have leaks," Ms Rains said.

On hearing of residents' concerns, deputy mayor Mark Rodda said the confusion could've been avoided entirely had residents been warned beforehand by council's communications team.

"It probably would've been advisable to actually write to those people and say, you're not going to get your quarterly bill at the normal time because we're rolling out these digital meters, and this may result in a higher than usual bill," Cr Rodda said.

He also has a piece of advice for residents in Kootingal.

"If I was them, personally I would request an audit ... the other thing is not to stress about paying back. If they request to pay by instalments that request will be granted," Cr Rodda said.

In the meantime, council is progressing with the smart meter roll out.

"Every Smart Meter is individually tested for quality control to ensure it is working correctly, as the reading is live, an issue with the meter will be identified quickly and rectified. So far, no accuracy issues have been identified from the 10,800 meters that have been installed to date," council's spokesperson said.

Tamworth Regional Council urges residents who have issues with their water bill to contact council directly on 6767 5555.

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