HIGH BILLING COMPLAINTS
| CIRCUMSTANCES | DESCRIPTION | ADJUSTMENT SCHEME | FREQUENCY | ||||||||||||||
| Concessionaire’s Fault | Cause maybe due to: Busted substandard pipes/materials, improper installation (flush toilet problem, unprescribed excavation depth, unprescribed jointing (use of tire cut-out when jointing, “bogkot system”, pilo-pilo practice”, unfixed dilapidated pipes |
| Adjustment shall be allowed or granted only to concessionaires once every after three (3) years regardless of the cause considered or classified under the concessionaires’ fault, to reckon from the date of the installation for new connection. For old or existing connection, reckoning date is from the date of rehabilitation. | ||||||||||||||
| Leaking caused by “close-open” practice of the curb cock done by concessionaires | Damaged Angle Ball Meter Valve (ABMV) or Straight Meter Valve due to habitual “close-open” practice done by the consumer and leaking occurs directly from the ABMV or SMV that results to high billing. | No adjustment shall be granted. Replacement of the ABMV or SMV shall be borne by the consumer. Materials shall be purchased by the consumer and shall be installed by the office free of charge. | |||||||||||||||
| SFWD’s Fault | Includes the following: Meter stand leaking Water Meter malfunction | Adjustment would be based on the last six (6) months excluding the complained bill. | NO LIMIT | ||||||||||||||
| Force Majeure | High billing due to accidental events like leaking caused by unintentional/accidental forces beyond the control of the concessionaire, fortuitous events like flood, earthquake and fire. | Adjustment would be the same with SFWD’s fault , if and only if the concessionaires could present a proof or evidence of the cause of leak/damage such as actual picture/footage when the incident happened, Barangay report and the like except in cases of fortuitous events. | NO LIMIT |
- Complaint shall be filed 2 days before the due date;
- Adjustment of bill shall apply once every three years.
ACCOUNT CLEARANCE
Concessionaires who would apply for new service connection shall be required of account clearance from the Commercial Section in order to ensure payment of previous unpaid bill and prevent Account Receivables from ballooning.
- Application for new service connection bearing the same name and of the same users under the List of Accounts Receivables;
- Application for new service connection with shared connections(e.g. classroom);
- Application for new service connection at different location but with the same users under the list of Account Receivables;
- Application for new service connection whose owner of building and property bears the same name under the list of Account Receivables.
POLICIES ON CUSTOMER’S DEPOSIT
- Customer’s Deposit (CD) of Disconnected/Inactive concessionaires in the last one (1) year shall be automatically applied to their existing account payable to the SFWD. In cases, where theses concessionaires shall reconnect, he shall pay the prevailing CD rate.
- The new CD rate will be as follows:
- Residential = Php300.00
- Commercial C = Php400.00
- Commercial B = Php500.00
- Commercial A = Php600.00
- Full Commercial = Php700.00
- For concessionaires whose existing CD exceeds the new CD rate, the excess amount shall be automatically applied to their water bill starting July 1, 2008.
- For concessionaires whose existing CD is lower than the new CD rate, they need to update their CD in a spread scheme or staggered basis starting July 1, 2008 until December 31, 2008. All concessionaires must have uniform CD according to their classification at the end of December 2008.
- The new CD rate shall take effect to all new service connection applicants upon approval of this policy.
POLICIES ON LABORATORY
ACCOUNT CLEARANCE PRIOR RECEIVING WATER SAMPLES FOR LABORATORY TEST
No samples shall be entertained for testing regardless whether bacteriological, physical, or chemical tests if the previous months were not paid. Account clearance shall be obtained from the Accounting Section.
CLARIFICATORY GUIDELINES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 5% DISCOUNT TO SENIOR CITIZEN
Senior Citizens will be allowed of the 5% discount of water bills up to 30 cubic meters only for connection bearing the name of the Senior Citizen. The Senior Citizen shall comply the following:
- Personally pay the bills with Senior Citizen’s ID;
- In case of second person, an authority from the Senior Citizen shall be made stating reasons for non-appearance;
- Discounts shall be made once to connection with exclusive use of the Senior Citizen or where he or she resides regardless of the number of connections that bears the name of the Senior Citizen;
- Connections with Commercial Classification shall not be allowed to avail of the discount;
- The 5% discount shall be granted to purely water consumption. This will not include other miscellaneous services offered by the District.
POLICY ON RECONNECTION OF WATER SERVICE
- Closed connection due to non-payment of bill has already been disconnected shall not be re-opened unless the following shall be complied whichever is practicable or applicable:
- Full settlement of arrears;
- Payment of reconnection fee;
- Absolute Deed of Sale;
- Affidavit of Consent/Consent to Transfer
- Application of Service Connection to the same address, premise, or zone shall not be approved where there is an existing closed service connection due to delinquency or non-payment of bills. The application for new service connection shall only be approved upon full settlement of arrearages and payment of reconnection fee. The newly service connection applicant shall attend a seminar/briefing of SFWD policies.
- In a rented property/unit where the water service connection is registered with the lessor, he/she shall be responsible whatever arrearages left be the lessee;
- If the property is rented and water service connection is to be registered with the lessee, an affidavit of consent from the lessor shall be presented. It is important to stipulate in the consent if the lessee if allowed to transfer the said connection if he/she transfers to other premise or to his owned property. The Lessee assumes whatever responsibility form the said service connection. If close due to non-payment of bill by the lessee and the same will be opened by another lessee, item no. 1 hereof shall apply and another affidavit of consent by the lessor for that purpose is so required.
- In a purchase unit where there is a water service connection that was cut-off due to arrears, presentation of the absolute deed of sale is required. For Bank-acquired property, document pertaining thereto is required. If in the absolute deed of sale or relative thereto has no mention that the buyer shall assume all liens and obligation thereof, the applicant/buyer who applies for reconnection/reactivation/ or application for new service shall make the initiative to oblige the original owner to settle the arrearages. Consequently, no application shall be approved on the said unit, address or zone if the arrearages thereon are not settled.
- A person could apply as many connections he wants at a different addresses or zone or unit. Absolutely, no connection shall be reactivated, re-opened, or new service application be approved to the same premise, address or zone if outstanding arrearages are not settles thereof regardless of the account name use in his application. Or no connection with unsettled arrearages be re-opened/reactivate at different name but on same location/household address, zone, or tapping.
- The cut-off time for re-open will be every 3:00 in the afternoon.
POLICIES ON DISCONNECTION
PROCEDURE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DISCONNECTION ORDER
- Generation of Notice of Disconnection (NOD);
- Notify consumer using NOD;
- Generation of Disconnection Order;
- Actual conduct of Disconnection Order;
- Report of Disconnected Consumer using Maintenance Order Form
- Automatic pull out of water meter shall be observed during the disconnection. Water meter accessories like ABMV and Brass Coupling shall be included to be pulled-out and must be indicated in the report of disconnection. No re-open shall be conducted unless disconnection reports are submitted in the office and water meters are turned-over. This procedure shall exclusively apply to connections within Poblacion Area (Brgy 1-5, Alegria, Karaos, Hubang, Pisaan & Sta. Ana).
POLICIES ON BILLING
FIXED DUE DATE SCHEDULE
| BATCH | ZONE/BOOK | Schedule of DUE DATE (Monthly) |
| 1 | 011-014 | Every 16th |
| 2 | 015-018 | Every 17th |
| 3 | 019 & 021-023 | Every 18th |
| 4 | 024-026 | Every 19th |
| 5 | 027-029& 031 | Every 20th |
| 6 | 032-034 &036 | Every 21st |
| 7 | 035 & 037-038 | Every 22nd |
| 8 | 039 & 041-043 | Every 23rd |
| 9 | 044-045 | Every 24th |
| 10 | 046-047 | Every 25th |
| 11 | 048-049 | Every 26th |
| 12 | 051-053 | Every 27th |
| 13 | 054-057 | Every 28th |
| 14 | 058-059 &061-062 | Every 29th |
| 15 | 063-064 | Every 30th |
| 16 | 065-066 | Every 1st |
| 17 | 067-068 | Every 2nd |
| 18 | 069 & 071 & 083 | Every 3rd |
| 19 | 072-073 | Every 4th |
| 20 | 074-076 | Every 5th |
| 21 | 077-079 | Every 6th |
| 22 | 081-082 & 084 | Every 7th |
In case the due date will fall on weekend or during Holidays, the scheduled due date will effect on the next working day.
ON WATER BILL
- Giving consideration to all National Offices based in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur who has water connection at the SFWD to pay their water bills within 30 days;
- Sustaining the penalty charges of 5% to delinquent consumers
ANTI-WATER PILFERAGE POLICY
| Nature of Offense | Description/Explanation | Number of Offense | Penalty (Php) |
| 1. Closing of SFWD main valve | The act of closing the main valve of the SFWD and using the same as their control valve making other concessionaires along its cluster unable to access water. | 1st Offense | 300.00 |
| 2nd Offense | 500.00 | ||
| 3rd Offense | 1, 000.00 | ||
| 2. Illegal Pull-Out of Plug or Meter Lock | The act of taking the meter lock or plug. | 1st Offense | 300.00 |
| 2nd Offense | 500.00 | ||
| 3rd Offense | 1, 000.00 | ||
| 3. Illegal Connection | The act of tapping to any water line, fire hydrants of water district or unregulated/ illegal access of water from the water district lines. | 1st Offense | 2,000.00 |
| 2nd Offense | 3,000.00 | ||
| 3rd Offense | 5, 000.00 | ||
| 4. Jumper | Bypassing the connection to avoid regulation. Can also be characterized by pull-out or dismantling of water meter | 1st Offense | 2,000.00 |
| 2nd Offense | 3,000.00 | ||
| 3rd Offense | 5, 000.00 | ||
| 5. Tampering of Water Meter | Any acts of putting something in the water meter in order to manipulate reading consumption. | 1st Offense | 2,000.00 |
| 2nd Offense | 3,000.00 | ||
| 3rd Offense | 5, 000.00 |
METHOD OF IMPLEMENTATION
- After the report of any illegal acts stated above is filed, the Engineering and Maintenance Section shall make necessary investigation on the truthfulness of said report. If a concessionaire or non-concessionaire is found to have acted any of the aforesaid illegal activities, immediate shut off of the source of illegal connection shall be observed to avoid further illegal use of water.
- The Investigator assigned by the Engineering Section shall prepare all necessary evidences like pictures, affidavits if necessary and the likes.
- The offenses shall then be reported to the Barangay Office concerned by the Investigator for proper documentation.
- An Offender is immediately given notice to appear before the Office of the General Manager within three (3) days from receipt of notice.
- A penalty shall be imposed based on the approved guidelines/policy and shall pay the unaccounted water usage and damaged materials to be determined by the Commercial Section. If the duration of his illegal act cannot be determined, the basis shall be the current average consumption times 24 months or two years.
- For failure of offender to appear before the Office of the General Manager or failure to pay the corresponding charges and penalties, the cases shall be forwarded to the legal counsel for appropriate action.
- In case an SFWD employee is involved, rules and procedures in the Civil Service Commission System shall apply.
GUIDELINES OF REWARD
Those who would report the illegal activities to the Water District shall be given the following rewards:
- 50% discount on his present bill for registered concessionaires of the SFWD;
- For non-registered concessionaires, the amount/cash reward shall be 30% of the penalty imposed to a reported case.
POLICIES ON DISCONNECTION
PROCEDURE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DISCONNECTION ORDER
- Generation of Notice of Disconnection (NOD);
- Notify consumer using NOD;
- Generation of Disconnection Order;
- Actual conduct of Disconnection Order;
- Report of Disconnected Consumer using Maintenance Order Form
- Automatic pull out of water meter shall be observed during the disconnection. Water meter accessories like ABMV and Brass Coupling shall be included to be pulled-out and must be indicated in the report of disconnection. No re-open shall be conducted unless disconnection reports are submitted in the office and water meters are turned-over. This procedure shall exclusively apply to connections within Poblacion Area (Brgy 1-5, Alegria, Karaos, Hubang, Pisaan & Sta. Ana).
