CITY OF RITTMAN UTILITIES
WATER METER READER PROBLEM
August 2021
Approximately three years ago, the Utilities Department discovered that the stealth mechanism which holds the battery that sends the signal to the electronic meter reading system failed in some of the meter readers. The City of Rittman began replacement of this equipment in homes and businesses, at approximately 30 or 40 a month. Currently we have over 300 water meter readers that are not reporting any numbers to our billing system. The accounts affected will and have shown the word “ESTIMATED” above the Account Number and Due Date located on your monthly invoice. Readings are normally taken around the first (1st) of every month. If your most recent bill has an estimated consumption shown, we urge you to manually read your own meter and report the numbers to our Utilities Department at 330-925-2059 or email the number, address and date read to kfetter@rittman.com. This will need to be done monthly until the meter reader problem can be corrected. To read your water meter, simply lift the hinged top and write down the numbers shown. Then report these numbers to City Hall.
The meter is working correctly, but the reader that transmits the consumption to us is not working properly. Due to the COVID19 pandemic our city technicians were not permitted to enter your residence or business to fix the reader problem for over a year and a half. Therefore, some addresses have had an estimated read for months. An appointment needs to be scheduled to repair our equipment at your earliest convenience. If a bill is underestimated, a higher bill may occur when an actual read is obtained, If a bill is overestimated, a credit will issued. Please contact City Hall if you need to make payment arrangements on the back charges for those of you that were estimated, however we ask that all customers stay current on your bill. This bill also includes sewer, storm water and trash. It is always better to have an actual read instead of an estimate, which can be high or low. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience as we work through this issue together.