Lawrence King posts his RM10,163.45 outstanding water bill on Facebook. – Photo via Facebook/Lawrence King
MIRI (June 15): Some consumers in Lawas were left shocked by outstanding water bills amounting to thousands of ringgit and are demanding an explanation from the Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB).
A netizen, Lawrence King, posted in his Facebook page a statement of outstanding balance amounting to RM10,163.45, including RM450 for May, RM257.45 (April) and RM2,840.67(March).
In an open letter written in Malay addressed to JBALB calling for action to be taken, he said unhappy consumers want the department to roll up its socks and send monthly bills on time as many in the district are affected.
He said it was crazy that the bill could suddenly and inexplicably skyrocket to over RM9,000, and that many could be affected by the suddenly hefty increase in their water bills.
“Is it possible that a monthly bill of about RM300 could suddenly spike to RM2,800? Can meter reading top 2,682,000 litres when it is usually 200 to 400,000 litres?” he asked.
His view was echoed by many other netizens, who said the public would not fork out such astronomical sums for water consumption and would only pay according to actual usage.
Meanwhile, The Borneo Post has reached out to JBALB and is awaiting a response to the complaints.