This video explains how conservation is a win-win – keeping utility costs down and money in customers wallets – by avoiding unnecessary costs and keeping rates lower in the long-term.

Click image to play the short video.

This short video explains the least customers should know about the water that they not only love, but need to survive! It describes the water service a typical residential water bill covers, and the costs of delivering a consistent, reliable flow of safe and affordable drinking water to faucets.

SDWPA stands for Safe Drinking Water Primary Assessment. SDWPA is an assessment imposed by the CT DPH, mandated by the recently adopted State budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019. All Community Water Systems with 100 or more service connections will be assessed the fee. The assessed fee with be established by the CT DPH.

ESM stands for Earning Shared Mechanism. ESM is a credit issued to customers when the Company earns a higher rate of return than what was authorized by PURA in the last rate case.

RAM stands for Revenue Adjustment Mechanism. RAM allows for the recovery of the difference between actual revenues collected in the year and the revenues approved by PURA in the last rate case. This surcharge percentage amount is applied to Meter & Usage charges as well as miscellaneous service charges. The surcharge percentage amount is reviewed and adjusted on an annual basis by PURA, based on revenues in the prior year.

Most HWC water meters use straight-reading dials which are read the same way you read your car’s odometer. HWC meters measure water use in cubic feet (one cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons).

There are a number of reasons why you may not have water.

• Planned work – we will notify our customers that they will not have water if a water main shutdown is scheduled. Notification will be left on your front door at least 24 hours ahead of time.
• Emergency work – time permitting, we attempt to notify customers of an emergency water main shutdown.
• Non-payment
• Internal plumbing issues

Many customers think the meter is on the outside of their premise since that is where they see our service representative, by the outside reader box.

The box on the outside of the house is a remote reader. Our service rep can determine your reading by a radio based device.

The meter is located in the basement, therefore the technician will need to enter the house to access the meter.

If the reader is not in the basement it is located in a “meter pit” by the road. In this case, entry into your house is not necessary.

As meters get old they tend to slow down and measure water usage inaccurately. The Hazardville Water Company tests your meter periodically to ensure its accuracy; in fact, we are required by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to test all our small meters every 8-10 years. Large meters must be tested every 4 years or less.

You will receive a postcard in the mail requesting that you call the office to schedule a meter change appointment. Our service technician will come to your property and change the meter on the mutually agreed upon time. The average time it takes to change a small meter is 15 – 20 minutes. For large meters it could take up to 2 hours.

Water hardness is a result of the minerals that occur naturally in water extracted from below the surface of the earth. Because the Hazardville Water Company draws water from a number of wells in the Enfield area, the hardness in the distribution system is found in varying amounts. The hardness concentration can be as low as 7 grains per gallon (120 parts per million) or as high as 10 grains per gallon (180 ppm). Most home, however, will experience approximately 8 to 9 grains per gallon (135 – 155 ppm) of hardness. Water with this amount of hardness can be considered as moderately hard.

Some customers might find white or light brown calcium spots on their fixtures or dishes as a result of the water hardness. We recommend C.L.R. (Calcium Lime Rust) to remove spots on fixtures and Glisten to help remove these spots on dishes. The direction for use are on the bottles and these products can be found at your local hardware store and grocery stores.

When you receive your water bill, the bill is due upon receipt. The Total Due date shown toward the bottom of the statement is the date that the payment must be received by to avoid a Late Payment Charge(for monthly bills) or second notice(for quarterly bills).

Although the size of your home may be the same, your daily household habits may require more water use than your neighbor’s.

You may do more laundry, dish washing, take baths as opposed to showers, which means more water is used in the same amount of time.

You may want to check for leaks in your household. To find out more go to our Water Conservation section.

If you determine there were no unusual high usage events such as filling a swimming pool, starting a new lawn, or having plumbing work done to repair a faulty fixture since your last billing, we suggest you do the following:

• Check the accuracy of the reading. Your last meter reading is on your bill. Read your meter and make sure the number is higher then the reading on the bill. If the meter indicates a lower number, we may have misread the meter. If this is the case call the office and one of our technicians will come out and reread the meter after which the office will issue a corrected bill.
• Check the “leak detector” on the meter. The small triangular dial is the low flow indicator that moves when water is passing through the meter. If no water is being used inside or outside your home this dial should be still. If the dial is moving, which indicates water usage, please call the office for further advice or assistance.
• Check your toilet for leaks. The toilet uses approximately 30% of the water in your home and if it is leaking you may not hear it. Do this simple test. Put a couple of drops of food coloring in the tank of the toilet. If, after 15 minutes, the dye appears in the bowl, the toilet has a leak.

The average consumption of a family of four is approximately 2400 cubic feet of water per quarter (a figure used by the Department of Public Utility Control). Using a conversion factor of 1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallons, multiply 2400 ft3 x 7.48 gallons = 17,952 gallons of water used per quarter.

There are two parts to your water bill. The meter service charge is based on the size of the water meter located at your property. The usage charge is based on the amount of water used since your previous reading. The amount of water multiplied by the appropriate commodity rate determines the amount of your usage charge. These two charges added together equal the subtotal of your water bill.

Additional surcharges or credits may be calculated to form the total balance.

Call Before You Dig (CBYD) is a corporation that was established under the Connecticut Non-Stock Corporation Act which includes all public utilities. The purpose of CBYD is to prevent injury to persons and property, and interruption of utility and cable television service resulting from damage to underground facilities. CBYD is a method whereby the location of underground utilities will be made known to persons planning to engage in excavating operations.

Anytime you plan to disturb the earth, whether as part of a construction job or a homeowner project (such as putting up a fence, clothesline, basketball hoop; planting trees or shrubbery; installing a pool; building a home addition, deck or foundation, etc.) CBYD must be notified.

When CBYD receives the request all utilities are notified. Individual utilities are then responsible to determine if they have underground lines present on the property and, if so, to clearly mark their lines. The Hazardville Water Company marks out all service connections and mains for all CBYD requests. The blue paint used by the Company is environmentally friendly, temporary and will deteriorate over time.

Your payment and this second notice may have crossed in the mail. When you receive your water bill, there is a Due Date towards the bottom of the bill. If your payment is received after that date, a Late Payment Charge is applied to monthly billed customers or a second notice is sent out to quarterly billed customers.

An example would be if your bill was due on November 9 and your payment is received on November 10, your bill is considered late and a reminder notice will be mailed. To avoid receiving a Late Payment Charge or second notice, HWC must receive your payment by the date listed on the bill. If your payment is being mailed, please allow sufficient time for delivery.

Some problems that may occur that prevent us from getting a remote reading are:

• The radio transmitter is not functioning properly and may need to be replaced.
• The meter and the radio transmitter box are not communicating correctly due to a broken wire, etc.

When we are unable to obtain a reading HWC’s customer service staff will send a letter to set up an appointment so a service technician can address and correct the problem.

At the present time, the Hazardville Water Company does not add fluoride to its water. Current State of Connecticut regulations require water companies that serve a population of 20,000 or more to add fluoride to their water. HWC serves water to just over 18,000; when this number reaches 20,000, HWC will begin fluoridating its water. Customers in Rye Hill serviced by Connecticut Water do have fluoride.