Residents of the Basque Country denounce water bills that are too high. A virtual collective has just been created this week on Facebook in the face of the flood of testimonies from residents of Ciboure, Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, or even Hendaye. The new service provider, the Agur company, says it has received some reports and is setting up exceptional hotlines from Monday to answer questions from residents.
Bills that have doubled
It all started with Andréa Soyer’s testimony on Facebook earlier this week. This resident of Ciboure saw her bill inflate in six months : “from January 1 to June 30, 2020 I paid € 98.81, which seems normal to me, knowing that I was washing my car with a water jet at that time. On the last invoice, I had no more car and I had problems with my water heater with not much water flow, so I do not understand how I arrive at 160 €, it is almost double! “
The young woman also takes the example of her mother, who lives with her 17-year-old sister: “she was paid monthly at 58 € per month, she now has an invoice of 470 € to settle even though she has not changed her habits.”
The collective asks for a mediator
After her testimony, she receives of hundreds of comments and other similar reports. She then decides to create a private Facebook group, a virtual collective to identify testimonials and collect photos of invoices. None is the same, some have over-consumption, others have to pay for adjustments.
But it is above all the lack of communication that the collective points out. “When people called, their answers were: ‘you must have a leak, or it’s the containment’s fault, you must have consumed a lot more'”, explains Andréa. An overconsumption that she refutes with other inhabitants. The collective claims the establishment of a mediator, like the one that intervened on the Ile de Ré for similar problems with Agur.
Meters not read this summer
On the side of the company Agur, new service provider since April 2019 in the South Basque Country, it is reported to have received about ten complaints. “On these complaints we see that there are more or less significant increases in consumption, which can be attributed to estimation problems.” explains Yan Mas-Goicoechea, territorial director of the company.
Because in June 2020, the meters could not be read because of the Covid-19 epidemic, explains Agur: “We had to make an estimate, however we were able to read the meters in December, so in some cases we can have an increase in consumption which can be explained by that.” Customers who believe they have been wrongly assessed can therefore make a complaint.
“If a user brings us back a meter index that is found to differ from the estimate we made, we re-invoice.” – Yan Mas-Goicoechea, territorial director of Agur
Regarding the high prices for the water purification part, “it is Suez which has the delegation of sanitation” defends Agur. “We remind users that they will never pay more than what they have actually consumed”, concludes the manager.
Hotlines set up
Faced with complaints, Agur is setting up on Monday exceptional permanence to answer questions from residents.
- Premises of the Basque Country Urban Community rue Putillenea in Urrugne from 8:30 am
- Agur d’Hendaye agency, 22 rue Mentaberry from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Users facing this situation can also contact the company by email: [email protected].
–
