Maryland Headlines
WSSC Post Card Response Required to Maintain Unit Count Billing
Property owners operating within the WSSC service area should have received a WSSC email at the end of August, with a post card for response, regarding the unit count billing program. AOBA was only afforded the opportunity to review the postcard after it had been printed; once we did so, however, we raised several questions with WSSC. After careful examination, WSSC agreed that the post card did contain some confusing and inaccurate information and needed to be revised. The original email and postcard have since been recalled.
Members will note that the new postcard lists swimming pools as a commercial high flow use. However: if the pool itself is used exclusively by and for the apartment community and is not operated as a distinct profit-making component, you do not need to apply for a waiver. Be advised as well, that WSSC says most pools are on a separate, pool meter account and billed twice per year-- and thus are not part of the unit count; so please check your records carefully.
In case you did not receive it, below is the most recent email and a NEW postcard that property owners should have received from WSSC, clarifying unit billing count practices for mixed use properties:
You may have received an e-mail sent on August 31, 2011 with an attached postcard regarding WSSC’s billing of “Mixed Use” Multi-unit Properties. Regretfully, that postcard contained errors; therefore, please disregard our first e-mail. We have attached the corrected postcard in this e-mail.
WSSC Standard Procedure (SP) CUS 11-01, which will become effective December 31, 2011, addresses how WSSC will bill certain “mixed-use” multi-unit properties. Specifically:
To continue to receive unit count credit for occupied residential units, by December 31, 2011, a separate WSSC meter is required for identified “high-flow” units. Alternatively, customers can apply for a waiver from the designation of a commercial unit as “high flow.”
To continue to receive unit count credit for the number of occupied residential units, by December 31, 2011, you must certify as to (a) the number of occupied residential units, and (b) the number of high flow commercial units, and (c) the number of non-high flow commercial units per account.
You can view SP CUS 11-01 by clicking on this link: http://www.wsscwater.com/file/CustomerCare/notice_of_adoption8_11.pdf.
For your convenience, we will also send the postcard via regular mail. In the meantime, to comply with SP CUS 11-01 requirements, PRIOR TO December 31, 2011, e-mail the requested information on the postcard to: mixedusebilling@wsscwater.com; or return the postcard to: WSSC Customer Relations, 14501 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, MD 20707.
