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San Jose Water Company Called Out For Overcharging Customers

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- A Bay Area water company has been called out for overcharging its customers.

And if you live in the South Bay, you could be receiving some money back.

The San Jose Water Company, which provides water service to over a million people in the Santa Clara Valley, denies that it intentionally double billed its customers.

It is applying to give a refund to it's customers, but it denies it did anything wrong.

"We don't believe that to be a fact, but let me just add that there's been a complaint filed," said John B. Tang, San Jose Water Company's vice president of regulatory affairs & government relations.

But it has agreed to refund an average of $5.70 to every one of its 220,000 ratepayers. It's a $1.8 million debt to be paid for a billing issue that surfaced last January.

"They paid a rate that was not in effect at the time they were billed," Tang said.

Tang says it happened when San Jose water changed billing methods, from a pay in-advance system to a pay in-arrears plan.

He says the water company has the right to bill in advance.

But a San Jose consumer watchdog group says the company should have skipped a billing cycle so customers wouldn't have to pay twice.

Tang says the company has since changed to a pro-rated system that should be more accurate.

San Jose resident Gary Newhall came in person to the San Jose Water Company to pay his water bill and he says the company never mentioned the problem.

"A lot of people rely on the water company to be honest," Newhall said, noting that he basically lives paycheck to paycheck so this sort of double billing is no small burden on him.

Gary said, "If they are going to overcharge us they should let us know and reimburse us. They should send us a letter and let us know what's going and why they overcharged us. If it was a mistake, then that's okay. But if they were being dishonest, that's something different."

Now the question is, are consumers owed more money? The consumer group says overcharges could be as high as $13 million.

The complaint is awaiting a hearing from the public utilities commission.

"The customer's complaint has been filed and we'll go through that process with the PUC to determine a resolution," Tang said.

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