NEW ORLEANS — For several years, WWL Louisiana’s Down the Drain investigative team has exposed widespread billing problems at the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board.
The coverage has led to several reforms by the New Orleans City Council, but even today mistakes still leave many customers in distress over incorrect bills and a cumbersome appeals process.
One of the bad billing cases exposed by the station involved a Gentilly grandmother on a fixed income whose bill skyrocketed from about $100-a-month to thousands each month, eventually climbing to more than $36,000 for an apartment she shares with her nine-year-old granddaughter.
Not only did WWL Louisiana listen to Adline Gaudin's Sewerage and Water Bill headaches, but on Tuesday the agency corrected three years worth of out-of-whack bills, fixed a water meter mix-up and agreed to start from scratch with her billing.
“I'm actually going to see a real reading of my water meter,” Gaudin said. “Haven't seen that since I had the account almost.”
Councilman Eugene Green also got involved in Gaudin’s case, and by Tuesday morning a small group of S&WB officials met Green at Gaudin’s house on Milton Street to resolve the billing issue once and for all.
“It took so long,” Gaudin said. “Three plus years, really, to get somebody to listen. Somebody to respond. Wow.”
When Gaudin called WWL Louisiana in August, the station’s inquiries prompted the S&WB to reduce her bill by more than $31,000.
But with Gaudin’s outstanding balance of more than $5,000 still way beyond her reach, and shut-off notices arriving in Gaudin’s mail, the station stepped in again. And this time, got quick results.
Green responded almost immediately, visiting Gaudin Monday to assess her situation.
“We have great citizens such as Ms. Gaudin and I want to assist them because I'm motivated by it,” Green said. “And I'm glad it got resolved.”
What Green and the S&WB determined was that the utility had mixed up Ms. Gaudin's meter with her neighbor's, a mistake that a plumber actually discovered in August.
“Nobody came out after the plumber said the lines were crossed. Nobody came out until today,” she said.
As of Tuesday, the meter mix-up has been resolved and Gaudin now has a new smart meter that she can monitor from her cell phone.
And to Gaudin’s relief, that final $5,000 remaining on her bill has been erased.
“I don't have any words,” Gaudin said. “I'm just so happy. Thank you. It's a brand new day.”
In an emailed statement, the S&WB wrote, “Thank you for reaching out and working on behalf of the customer” and acknowledged that it “reached an amicable agreement with the customer.”
