By Derrick Miller
Duncan Mayor Robert Armstrong released a statement Friday to address concerns City of Duncan residents have expressed about their City of Duncan utility bills.
For weeks, Duncan residents have taken to Facebook pages, such as Positively Duncan and the Duncan Soundoff pages, to talk about rising utility bills, noting sizable cost jumps on their monthly statements.
According to Armstrong’s statement, “I hear our citizens’ concerns regarding the installation of our city’s new smart meters, which will allow for more consistent, accurate billing over time.”
In his statement, Armstrong said the old meters were installed in 2007 and were rated to be used for 10 years. However, issues arising with Covid and supply chain resulted in a delay in getting the new meters
installed.
“Because the meters were not replaced as intended in 2020, they ran slowly, unable to accurately measure 100 percent of the water that flowed through the meter. The new meters, which are rated for a 20-year lifespan, can accurately measure every drop.
“That said, if you feel your bill is higher than it should be, our city team is more than happy to review your bills and usage. Using the new meters, we can help you see times when your usage is higher, and we can make recommendations to help you reduce your usage.”
In his statement, Armstrong did not address the other frequent concern, which involves the billing cycle. The closest he came was when he talked about the accuracy of the utility bills.
“We want you to have full confidence in the billing process, to that end, I have requested an independent audit. We are engaging Crawford & Associates for this purpose and will allow them full access to perform a random audit of our accounts. The results of that audit will be released to the public when their work is
complete.
“In the meantime, please know that the City of Duncan Team’s goal is to get this right; we are here to serve our community, and I would ask for your patience and kindness, particularly for those individuals working day in and day out, to ensure accurate billing and to recoup the utility payments that are necessary to make sure we all have access to water and electric services.”
