It turns out only about 20 per cent of the July-August utility bills sent out by the Town of High River were incorrect.

The error occurred with the calculation of charges with the transition to new meters that were being installed across town. The town's corrected the computer system error and the affected bills are being re-issued this week.

"As part of the floor recovery program, all water meters, even those that weren't flooded are being changed out and converted to the new style radio reads so we don't have to go into each home to read the meter," Chief Financial Officer Tom Maier says. "So about a thousand meters that were replaced through that July and August period, they were supposed to have an initial reading completed on August 30, and be billed based on an estimate for the last few years and those ones were actually calculated by their previous reading from their old meter and from their consumption on their old meter, so they should have had just an estimate billing."

He says not everyone was over-billed.

"Of the thousand bills that went out for those individuals, some were actually under-billed and some of them would have been over-billed, it would have been based on when that meter went in place, whether it was July or August and what their consumption patterns have been," Maier says.

The Town's sending out new bills to only those affected. All others will remain the same and customers have until the end of October to pay them.

Customers who are not in the affected 20 per cent and have discarded their original bill are encouraged to email corporateservices@highriver.ca if they need to inquire about their balance or require a copy of their original bill. Residents are also strongly encouraged to sign up and view their bill through www.highriver.ca using the eServices feature found under the ‘Residents’ menu.

The Town would also like to remind customers that they can also sign up to receive their utility and tax bills via email by completing and returning the registration form that can be accessed at www.highriver.ca under the ‘Residents’ menu by selecting the ‘Water & Utility Services’ OR ‘Tax & Assessment’ tabs.