List members who have upgraded to Qwest's DSL service may want to check
their city of Minneapolis utility bill. Your DSL may be screwing up your
meter's ability to send data to the city, resulting in an estimated bill -
which, if the estimate is low, could cost you hundreds of bucks if your
meter has been offline for several months.
This past month, my city utility bill dropped dramatically. So I looked at
it more closely and noticed the EST abbreviation next to the meter-reading
figures at the top. That usually means the meter's phone reporting is
"off-line" and you're in danger of piling up big back-due billing payments.
I don't think the city charges a penalty, but I had a similar problem a few
years ago, though not because of DSL. I ended up shelling out a couple of
hundred bucks the next month. Ouch! You learn to fear the deadly EST!
When the meter repairman came here this afternoon, he told me DSL was "hot"
and thus causing many, many repairs. Apparently, when DSL is installed, the
city's meter can't call out with monthly reading. Fortunately, the repair is
quick, only requiring a DSL filter on the meter, like you need on your
regular phone lines.
So if you're a DSL user, do check your bills. If you have more than one
phone line, the city installs their meter on the main line. If that's where
DSL is, you may have a problem.
The larger issue is that DSL will continue to be hot, so will continue to
suck up countless city repair-force hours and expose residents to whopping
bills.
I'd suggest the following:
1. The city work with Qwest to instruct installers & Minneapolis residents
to put a DSL filter on their water meter. I watched the repair guy do it;
it's just like sticking a DSL filter on your home line, which most of us
with DSL have had to do.
2. The city do a better job of alerting residents that their bills are being
estimated. True, the EST abbreviation is on there, and there is a single
line that "Your water charge has been estimated, please call 612-673-1114 to
schedule a meeting." However, it's in the same font and type size as the
rest of the gibberish, making it easy to miss - at least for me. If I had my
druthers, I'd print the estimation warning in red - but if a two-color bill
is too expensive, I'd print the warning in MUCH larger letters than the rest
of the bill.
I believe these small, virtually cost-free improvements would provide quick
payback for the city and its taxpayers.
David Brauer
King Field - Ward 10
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