Homeowner trying to get a break on NJAW rates

Howell residents are not disputing the water rates as Lendel G. Jones from the New Jersey American Water Company suggests in her letter to the editor. The sewer rate is the problem, being double the water rate and not based on actual sewer usage.

Ms. Jones used a phone call analogy, "The same individual would not place a two-hour international call and then call the phone company to dispute the 120-minute charge."

I'm sure Ms. Jones would dispute being charged for a 120-minute international call when it was really a local call. And when she realizes that every call is assumed international and her bill is $1,000 more than before, she'd be contacting the Board of Public Utilities pretty quickly.

The phone company deals with this by keeping an accurate record of outbound traffic and billing accordingly, or simply offering a flat rate if accurately tracking outbound usage isn't cost effective.

New Jersey American Water might follow the lead of their similarly situated fellow utilities who understand that sewer usage cannot be accurately measured by a typical residential water meter. Other residents of Howell are given a flat sewer rate of $142 per quarter, while still others are billed a flat sewer rate during summer months based on their averaged winter usage when no irrigation takes place.

While New Jersey American Water will not succumb to requests to charge as fairly as their peers, they should at least allow a second meter for irrigation purposes at a reasonable price.

The New Jersey American Water second meter policy insists on an entire new feed directly from the water main to curb, digging up the street and yard [and] costing many thousands of dollars, rather than allowing the second meter to be placed where the current feed enters the home at a fraction of the cost.

New Jersey American Water may have initially reduced water rates by 5 percent, but how much have they increased since then? What about service fees and sewer rates? My flat service fees alone have jumped from $24 a few years ago to $37 today.

Rob Nicastro

Howell