Village of Lisle Threatens 260 Families with Water Shut Off
The Village of Lisle issued 260 "Water shut off" notices to 260 single family residences threatening to shut of water in 10 days if the owner did not allow "mandatory" installation of a new Sensus iPerl Smart Water Meter.
The threat worked.
Part of a five-year, $1.5 Million plan to replace all mechanical water meters with Sensus iPerl Smart Water Meters, this first phase included purchase and installation of 950 new residential smart water meters.
A whopping 27% of the 950 Lisle residents in the Phase 1 Smart Water Meter installation plan received this water shut-off threat letter.
(click to enlarge)
In announcing the plan, the Village carefully and intentionally avoided the use of the words "smart meter" and instead called the project the "water meter replacement project." or the "water meter change out program." In addition to avoiding the terminology "smart meter" the five-year phasing strategy also was implemented to control opposition. Had the Village attempted to replace all 5000 meters in a single year, there could have been a big push-back with 27%, or over 1300, shut-off threat notices going out at one time.
The Village expects to recoup the $1.5 Million cost with income from higher water bills. The number of years to recoup the cost have not been provided. There has been no independent financial study done to substantiate this assumption.
The new meters, which do not require testing by the Village, are allowed to "over charge" by 1.5%. By this time next year, we will be able to compare the old and new bills for the meters replace this year and we will report back on increased revenue from higher bills.
Many of the 260 property owners who received the Phase 1 water-shut off threat had ignored the first two notices to call and schedule a new smart water meter installation over concerns of higher water bills, privacy, or health. Records provided by the Village show that among those who received a "3rd and final water shut-notice" was Village of Lisle Trustee Brad Hettich (address per DuPage Election Commission)
Some residents have said they were simply too busy to schedule installation on such short notice over the summer or were intentionally trying to stall the installation as long as possible to avoid receiving higher water bills than the rest of the town.
There have been a number of stories in the mainstream media lately about overcharging and faulty smart meters in Tinley Park and other communities. Lisle has done nothing to address consumer confidence in their smart water meter project. Heck, Lisle is actually avoiding acknowledgement that the new meters are, in fact, "Smart Meters."
The Village of Lisle does not plan to purchase the software for remote real-time data collection until the completion of the 5-year installation plan. Until then, the Village of Lisle will continue to pay DuPage County $34,000 annually for meter reading. The program for real-time remote data collection costs about $800,000 and is not included in the $1.5 Million water meter replacement project costs.
Lisle Watchdog submitted a FOIA to the Village to obtain information.
- The Village of Lisle has no "opt-out" plan for residents who do not want a smart water meter.
- The Village of Lisle has no privacy policy regarding the vast amount of "real-time" hourly/daily electronic water use data that these smart meters are capable of collecting and storing.
- The Village of Lisle has no testing policy or plan for these new smart water meters for accuracy.
FOIA Response.
