La Viñuela water bills

The water bill saga in La Viñuela rolled on this week, culminating in a demonstration taking place on Monday 27 to protest against the Ayuntamiento’s handling of the water supply in the village.

Paul Rouse, who helped to organise the protest, told Euro Weekly News that some 20 or so supporters turned up with banners and whistles and marched peacefully to the town hall where they presented an open letter in answer to the letter sent out by the council.

Local residents are still battling with the council about the huge water bills of up to €45,000 for just one quarter that were received. They want to know how this happened and what will be done to prevent it happening again.

‘The council has written to residents who ended up with high meter readings and subsequent bills to warn them of the consequences of high consumption and warning them that they may even be cut off!’, Paul explained.

What could be causing these high meter readings?

He pointed out that these high readings are believed to have been caused by regular cuts in the supply causing air to enter the system which then causes erroneously high readings in the meters.

‘The residents, of all nationalities, are frustrated that the council really can’t answer how, in one quarter, there can be possibly hundreds of people affected by these false meter readings followed by two quarters of normal bills followed by another quarter of affected bills’, he continued. The only common factor is the water supply network, Mr Rouse added.

They are also criticising the council for failing to fulfil it’s obligation to advise someone if their meter readings indicate a leak or a fault. That is something that would certainly have prevented a lot of people receiving a second high bill, he concluded.