What issues did the household with a 57 million VND bill in Ho Chi Minh City sue the water supply company about?

On August 26, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Huy (41 years old), owner of the house in alley 490 Le Van Sy (District 3) said that his family has submitted additional documents to the District 3 People's Court to sue Gia Dinh Water Supply Joint Stock Company over the water bill of 57 million VND.

Accordingly, his family sued the water supply company on 3 issues. Specifically, Mr. Huy requested to cancel document No. 1818/TB-GD dated July 10 of Gia Dinh Water Supply Joint Stock Company regarding the suspension of water supply service; Cancel the water bill notice of period 5/2024, code: 1K24TGD, number: 686253, related to the amount to be paid in February of VND 57,383,568.

At the same time, his family requested the water supply side to calculate the water volume for January and February based on the average of October-December 2023 at 20 cubic meters per month, and from March onwards, record the water volume according to the meter index.

Mr. Huy stands next to a 1m3 water tank on the terrace (Photo: An Huy).

According to Mr. Huy, his family brought the case to court because they could not find a common voice with the water supply company. At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh City Consumer Protection Association could not protect his family's rights because the Gia Dinh Water Supply Joint Stock Company did not cooperate.

Regarding the information that the water supply company said the customer refused to have the meter inspected to resolve the issue, Mr. Huy said that on February 26, he asked the company to inspect the meter and the entire water system in his home to clarify the cause. At this time, the company representative asked, "Do you want to have the meter inspected?"

At that time, he did not know what meter inspection was or what the inspection process was. He thought the inspection would reveal the cause of the unusual increase in water level, so he agreed.

"After that working session, I consulted with some people who had experienced an unusual increase in their water usage and knew that checking the meter would not find the cause, meaning the homeowner would have to pay. He changed his decision to request an inspection of the entire water system," said Mr. Huy.

According to the homeowner, if more than 3,000m3 of water is lost in 2 months, that means his family must use 50m3 per day or an average of 2m3/hour. However, when he used a device to measure the water input on the ground floor, it never exceeded 1.2m3/hour and on the roof of the top floor, the maximum was 0.8m3/hour.

He assumed that the amount of water overflowing was 2m3/hour, flowing continuously for 60 days without his family and neighbors noticing, which was strange.

In February, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Huy (41 years old, living in alley 490 Le Van Sy, District 3) was shocked when he received a February water bill of more than 57 million VND.

According to Mr. Huy, in January (before Tet), the staff came to measure the water meter but the family was away. The company took the default amount of water used in the previous months (20m3) to issue the bill and recalculate later.

In February, when he received the water usage fee (more than 3,000m3), Mr. Huy was very surprised. On average, his family uses about 20m3 of water per month, costing more than 200,000 VND. He thought there was a problem with the water meter.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/ho-co-hoa-don-57-trieu-dong-o-tphcm-kien-cong-ty-cap-nuoc-nhung-van-de-gi-20240826112938571.htm