Bexar Met quickly
Rep. David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, who’s not a committee member but whose district includes many BexarMet customers, got the utility’s general manager, Gil Olivares, to acknowledge the utility’s rate structure puts a larger burden on those who use the least water.
“If circumstances were such that I saw the poorest people in the entire BexarMet system being charged the most, that would be my top priority to figure out why is that the case and how fast can I fix it,” Leibowitz said.
Olivares responded that changes that would lower rates for some customers can’t be made overnight without studies that would rebalance the utility’s income. He said those studies are due at month’s end and new rate structures are due for board consideration with a new budget beginning in May.
Olivares, who became general manager less than two years ago, said the utility has problems but just needs more time to get them straightened out.
I just happened to find this today. This is one of the reasons they are using to say that Bexar Met should be controlled by the Bexar County Commissioners Court instead of its elected board. My water is supplied by Bexar Met but most of the people I know get their water from SAWS and someone mentioned their water bill is $45 a month. I was dumbfounded, my water bill has never once been below $65 in the 8 years I have lived in this house and sometimes it is quite a bit higher. No one there believed me, they were all SAWS customers and not a one of them had bills that high. No, I don’t have a leak, yes, we have low flow toilets my neighbors pay the same or higher than I do. I live within three miles of the woman whose bill is $45 and we have the same size house and family and she doesn’t have low flow toilets so it isn’t a matter of it is harder to get water to me or I use more. I just pay more because I am a Bexar Met customer. I appreciate the Olivares says they are going to look into it and that changes don’t happen overnight but it’s been 8 years without a change so forgive me for not holding my breath on that.
Technorati Tags: Bexar Met, Gil Olivares, David Leibowitz
Filed under: Bexar County Commissioner's Court, BexarMet, Gil Olivares
