Published Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Water Institute will fix overcharge


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Water Institute, known as AyA, recognized on Tuesday an error in the amount charged for drinking water services during March.

According to the Institute, the amount in the water bill that users must pay in June was issued by mistake.

Intending to repair the error in the receipt, which in some cases tripled the real amount of service, the Institute announced that it will make an adjustment to all the invoices that were issued in May.

To fix the alleged incorrect amount charge on the water services, new invoices calculated based on the average of what was collected in March, April and May will be issued.

This average should reflect "a decrease in the amount charged to users" on the invoices corresponding to the May payment.

According to the institute, part of the problem in the recently issued bills was due to the suspension of the reading of the devices that measure water consumption. The meters had not been read since March 20 due to covid-19.

But when the readings were resumed in May, the accumulated amount of the last three months of March, April and May are billed at once.

That is, in some cases, people noticed an increase in water consumption of three times more than usual. Due to this they were charged the accumulated amount of three months.

"Since the May receipt included the accumulated consumption of March and April, this also caused users to calculate the amount to be paid with a higher rate scale," the Institute said in its statement.

Also, bills can show a high increase in the cost of drinking water service due to the payment of value-added tax, known as IVA.

For users to recover the over-price charged in March, "a credit note will be issued to eliminate the amount of that tax or adjust it to fair value," said the Institute.

People do not have to go to their offices to make a claim for the high amount of drinking water service, according to the Institute. Because the new invoice will be issued automatically.

New invoices or adjustments to May invoices will be reflected as of Monday, June 22 for users who are located in the Metropolitan Area. Expect for the reduction in the water bill to be reflected starting Friday, June 26.

"If the user has canceled the May invoice and it has been higher than the average cost, a credit note will be applied for a surcharge in his favor for the following receipts," said the Institute.

They enabled the phone line 800-7376783 to receive claims for possible errors in the water bill.




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