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REGULATION NO. 8 - METERING
8-1 GENERAL – Except for fire lines, all water service lines connected
to the District’s water supply system will be metered by the District. All meters in the District will normally be
read monthly. In months where the meter
cannot be read, the District may estimate the meter reading and use the
calculated usage to render a bill for the customer. The District shall not estimate a meter reading for a customer
without first making an effort to read the meter.
8-2
METER – ASSESSMENT, INSTALLATION, OWNERSHIP, REPAIR AND
MAINTENANCE, RESPONSIBILITIES OF CUSTOMER
- The cost of the original meter
(first meter installed on a property) will be the responsibility of the
Customer and will be assessed at the time of application for water service. The District will maintain a stock of three
quarter (3/4) inch and one (1) inch meters.
Cost of these meters will be determined by the actual inventoried cost
of the meters to the District. Meters
larger than one (1) inch will be obtained through the District at the
customer’s expense after having first obtained and/or supplied the
specifications for the meter from/to the District. District Employees will install and seal meters of three quarter
(3/4) and one (1) inch in size. The
Customer’s plumber will install meters larger than one (1) inch, followed by
inspection of the meter setting by a District employee whom will seal the meter
after acceptance. After the initial
meter setting, the ownership, repair and maintenance of the meter becomes the
responsibility of the District, however, the responsibilities of meeting these
regulations of the District, standards of the plumbing industry and any
standards of the State of Montana or Federal regulations are the responsibility
of the Customer.
In all cases, the customer shall
furnish proper protection of the meter from freezing or other damage, and the
meter shall be located where it is easily and readily accessible for
installation, removal, disconnection, servicing, and reading of the meter by
District personnel. The District has
the right to require remote readers to be installed at any location. The true register for the usage of water in
all cases shall be the generator register attached and sealed to the District
meter.
8-3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR METERING
FACILITIES - All metering facilities shall conform to the following
requirements:
1. All District’s meters shall be set only in
an approved, non-hazardous place, and accessibility to said place shall be
maintained by the customer at all times.
No lawn taps, nor any other type taps, are permitted on customer's
installation between the water mains and the District’s meter.
2. The District’s meters shall be set in a
horizontal position in the customer's installation.
3. The District will determine, in all cases,
the size of the meter to be installed.
4. Customer's plumber shall furnish and install
all pipe, fittings, and valves necessary for the metering facility, in
accordance with the District’s standards and specifications.
8-4 INDOOR METERING FACILITIES - All
indoor metering facilities shall conform to the following requirements:
1. Meters will not be installed higher than
four (4) feet to center of connection above the floor.
2. Meters will not be installed in recreation
rooms, not be concealed and obstructed by items, cabinets, benches, or other
built-in fixtures.
3. An indoor meter having a size of
three-quarter (¾) or one (1)
inch shall be installed using a District approved meter yoke.
4. All small meters, three-quarter (¾) inch or one (1) inch in size and located in residences,
shall be installed with remote automatic reading. Such remote readers are not transferable to another address, but
shall remain on the building where originally installed. Customer shall be responsible for any
vandalism or other damages of similar nature to the readers. The location of such remote readers, once
installed by the District, shall be deemed to be permanent. Customer's desiring to have the remote
readers relocated shall bear all costs for such relocation work.
8-5 OUTDOOR METERING FACILITIES - All
outdoor metering facilities for meters shall conform to the following
requirements:
1. Small meters, one (1) inch or smaller, shall
be installed on private property in meter boxes approved by the District, and
located not more than five (5) feet from customer's property line or at a point
designated by the District.
2. Large meters, over one (1) inch, shall be
installed in a meter box or vault designed and constructed in accordance with
District standards. The metering
facility shall be located on private property at a point approved by the
District and near the customer's property line. Outside meter boxes or vaults must be located near a driveway or
turnout and be accessible to District vehicles. Location of the meter box or vault shall be such that District
personnel will not damage lawns, shrubs, or other property, nor interfere with
the customer's normal course of business, nor be a hazard to customer’s or
District personnel.
3. All meter boxes are the expense and property
of the customer and shall be maintained in good repair at the customer's
expense. Failure by the customer to
keep said meter box in good repair shall be cause for the District to
discontinue water service to said customer.
The District shall give customer written notice to repair the meter box,
and after ten (10) days from date of said notice customer fails to do so, the
District will discontinue said customer's water service until the meter box is
placed in good repair.
8-6 PERMANENT METER INSTALLATIONS - When a
meter is installed at the request of a customer, its installation is to be
permanent unless the customer elects to have same removed and pays all expenses
incident to the removal of same, or discontinues service entirely. In such cases the customer will be required
to reimburse the District for the actual cost of the labor in connection with
the removal of the meter and said charges will be as provided for in Regulation
9-10, Charges for Miscellaneous District Services.
8-7 CUSTOMER'S RESPONSIBILITY - Customer
shall exercise reasonable care in protecting the District’s meter and all other
District owned equipment located on customer’s premises. Customer shall be responsible to the
District for any damages to the District’s meter due to freezing, vandalism, or
other damages of a similar nature. Only
the District’s employees or agents, or persons authorized by the Board are
permitted to inspect or handle same.
8-8 FINAL CONNECTION - Final installation
of the meter shall in all cases be made by, or under the direct supervision of,
the District or its authorized agents.
8-9 METERS SEALED - All meters will be
sealed by the District. The breaking of
seals by unauthorized persons, or tampering with the meter or the meter piping,
is prohibited by law, and will be cause for immediate discontinuance of water
service by the District. Such acts may
be prosecuted as criminal theft (MCA 45-6-301) and the District may obtain
judgment for three times the reasonable value of the water service and its
costs, including attorneys’ fees and expert witnesses’ fees (MCA 69-4-1101).
8-10 SCHEDULE OF METER TESTS - The District
will verify the mechanical accuracy of all water meters before installation,
either by verification of certification by the manufacturer or by testing on
the District’s meter testing facility.
8-11 SPECIAL METER TESTS - On request of a
customer, the District shall within ten (10) days after receipt of such
request, make special meter tests. The
cost of such testing, removal and replacement of the meter shall be borne by
the customer.
8-12 REPLACEMENT OF METER - Whenever a
customer requests the replacement of the water meter on the customer’s
premises, such request shall be treated as a request for test of such meter,
and as such, shall fall under the provisions of Regulation 8-11 of these
regulations.
8-13 STANDARD OF METER ACCURACY - The
District shall not place in service, or knowingly allow to remain in service
without adjustment, any meter that has a known error in registration of more
than plus or minus three (3) percent.
8-14 ADJUSTMENT FOR INACCURATE METER REGISTRATION - Whenever a meter in service is found by test to be outside
the limit of accepted accuracy as defined in Regulation 8-12, the District
shall make an adjustment, based on the corrected registration for the period of
present customer's occupancy in which the meter was registering incorrectly, if
such period is known, not to exceed one year,
If the period of incorrect registration is not known, then the District
will make an adjustment for a period of not exceeding sixty (60) days. Whenever a bill or bills have been adjusted
or corrected as provided above, and whenever such adjustment amounts to $1.00
or more, the District shall refund to customer any amount found to have been
collected in excess of the proper amount, or the customer shall pay any
additional amount due, as the case may be.
8-15 NON-REGISTERING METER - When a meter
fails to register for any period, for reasons beyond the reasonable control of
the District, the District may estimate the charge for service during such
period, such estimate to be based upon the best available data.
8-16
NON-REGISTERING REMOTE READER - When a
remote reader fails to register for any reason or period, for reasons beyond
the reasonable control of the District, the meter register directly mounted on
the meter body, will then be read by a District employee and used to account
for the amount of water used. The
customer is responsible for all water registered by the meter register unless
otherwise determined by the District or as outlined in Regulation 8, Sections 9
through 13. Customer is responsible for
the protection of, and access to, the remote as described in Regulation 8,
Sections 1 through 8, and Regulation 9-2 of these Regulations.
8-17 METER TAMPERING/BYPASSING - Water customers shall not
interfere in any way with the meter after it is set in place. In case the meter seal is broken, or the
working parts of the meter have been tampered with, or the meter damaged, the
District may render a bill for the current month, based on an average of the
last thirteen (13) months, together with the full cost of repairing such damage
to the meter, and may refuse to furnish water to said customer until such
customer's account is paid in full, or enforce Regulation 4-19 of these Rules
and Regulations.
8-18 DAMAGED METERS AND EQUIPMENT – Whenever a
District meter, meter generator, remote wire, remote reader or any other
metering equipment is damaged by the carelessness or negligence of the
customer, the District shall repair/replace the damaged equipment and charge
the cost of doing so against the customer’s account. Failure to pay this charge shall be cause for the District to
discontinue service to the property involved until the total amount is paid
plus payment of any applicable charges for discontinuance and/or
reestablishment of service.
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