Water meters in Alsancak

[sophie]

I had to go into the local Beledye offices this morning and I saw meters being handed out to two people who were being shown how to use them. I asked if meters were going to be used soon and the answer was a definite yes. Oh well, lets see just how much Alsancak are going to charge for them and whether EVERYONE will be made to have them installed.

[Agobard]

I've had a Lapta pre-pay water meter for a couple of months now and had no problems. Installation was free and I just top up the card when I pay the other belediye bills.

[sophie]

Agobard, I only queried the cost because there have been some horrifying stories regarding cost of meters and errors etc. Hopefully Alsancak will go smoothly.

[Leither]

Agobard,can you tell me if you pay 25tl for ten tons of water are you getting 10 tons on your card how can you tell, it certainly does"nt tell you when you enter it into the meter so how do you know you are getting the amount that you have paid for and I"m speaking through experience of this one,I also live in Lapta.

[turtle]

Sophie
When you say "meters handed out" do you mean standard water meters or something new ?
It might be me but are you saying people do not have water meters at the moment ?

[Repent at Leisure]

How are the Lapta water meters set to work?
I have asked - still no idea.
You buy 25tl's worth about 8.8 tons, does it run till it is used, does it have to be used in a month?
My meter has shut down at least twice, Lapta beli have had to reset it...
Is it monthly set, is it usage set, mine still shows 18 tons in credit, it has never gone down, is it faulty or am I stupid?

[laptatony]

You still have to pay standing charges which you previously paid on your water bill, cleaning etc. You then purchase your water I paid 25tl for 10 tonne and that is what I got. If you have not paid your standing charge it looks like this comes off your 10 tonne. Sounds fine so far but now they have introduced a 23tl monthly standing charge, which I assume is for the meter but they will not admit to this. BRS have put someone in position as a liaison officer with Lapta, it will be useful if they can clarify the situation on the Forum and provide a review of issues and what charges are involved.

[carrierbag]

You are lucky if you are getting your new water meters free. Esentepe Beli are going to charge TL1200 (incl KDV) which we think is scandalous but we have no recourse.

[Marions]

Quesiton form 'him downstairs'. What if you are housebound - how the heck do you get your top up paid. And why the heck do we have to revert to an outmoded system of payment. Reminds me of the days in a bedsitter when trying to find money for the gas meter, and freezing in th eprocess.

[sophie]

Turtle, sorry if I am confusing you. These were the new "plastic card" meters. A couple of men were handed then, together with a plastic card which had a hand written numbers on the back. Whether these were Belediye workers being shown how they work I have no idea, but certainly the guy in the office gave the impression that Alsancak was going to have them and fairly soon. Carrierbag, are you saying that the locals on basic minimum wage are going to be asked to pay that scandalous amount. Why do I suspect not??

[guru]

You are lucky if you are getting your new water meters free. Esentepe Beli are going to charge TL1200 (incl KDV) which we think is scandalous but we have no recourse.

Are you sure?!! We are in Esentepe and on our site we all paid about 370TL for our meter when it was fitted last month.

The council tax, which used to be an annual payment is now charged for monthly @ 22 TL per month. I presume if people don't have an arrangement to pay this monthly via a bank account or pay it in advance then if you give them, say 50tl, to top up your water then a proportion is also debited to take account of the council tax, hence you will get less water.

We paid our council tax 3 months in advance pending setting up a bank account to take this via direct debit in the future and we topped up 20 tonnes and got 20 tonnes.

In the UK our water bill is £42 per month and our council tax £180 per month so TRNC prices are pretty darn cheap to me.

[carrierbag]

Guru, if you go in the Beli there is a 3/4 page document in English explaining it all. I believe if you are already on Mains water you are paying the cheaper rate but we are out past Bahceli and are not on main water so we will have the excessive bill.

As for minimum wage people Sophie....I hope they do not have to pay the TL1,200....we are inclined to tell them to keep their mains water and we will continue with tanker but I suspect we will have no choice in the matter.

[tomsteel]

The new meter charge in Esentepe will be 1000 TL, plus 16, percent VAT. Not sure of the price per unit of H2O.

[guru]

Guru, if you go in the Beli there is a 3/4 page document in English explaining it all. I believe if you are already on Mains water you are paying the cheaper rate but we are out past Bahceli and are not on main water so we will have the excessive bill.

Oh I see, that could be the reason then. When we topped up for the first time it was 2 TL per tonne

[tomsteel]

guru, comparing UK to TRNC costs is like comparing whales to sardines. Whilst both live in the sea, they are totally different species. Thank you for the information of price per tonne though.

[tomsteel]

Hey Marions - a bob for the meter: those were the days!

[Repent at Leisure]

Lapta now charge 28.34tl per month and you have to go every month to top up your water card.
Why didn't they just leave things as they were, the inconvenience of it all it affects everyone.
So much for progress.

[Leither]

The 28.34tl per month is nothing to do with water it is street cleaning,rubbish collection and every 2nd month medical,you need to be very wary buying water now as I"ve already said you ask and pay for 10tons but you do not get 10tons on your card.

[elizabeth]

Lapta now charge 28.34tl per month and you have to go every month to top up your water card.
Why didn't they just leave things as they were, the inconvenience of it all it affects everyone.
So much for progress.

Lapta actually charge 20 +8.34 every other month (28.34)tl then 8.34 tl on the other months. This covers street lighting, rubbish collection and public health services. As to how much water we get for 25tl, well how long is a piece of string?

[turtle]

Sorry about this but I am still a little confused,... I have a meter to my property and pay Alsancak Beli monthly for my water are we saying here I have to buy a new meter and pay on card ?

[tomsteel]

Why are Lapta Beli charging for street lighting when Kibtec now charges direct?

[Repent at Leisure]

Why are Lapta Beli charging for street lighting when Kibtec now charges direct?

They don't.

They issued a letter stating how and what charges are to be paid each month when they fitted the meter, that letter is now obsolete.

[13roman58]

Sorry but a question.

If you don,t use any water every month as some are visitors only in certain months do they have to still top up the card every month ?

[sophie]

Turtle, yes you are going to have to change sooner or later. From what other people in other municipalities give us to understand, you have no choice. When they first came into force, I thought it was going to be a much more efficient system, but the more I read about the problems some consumers are having, I'm beginning to doubt it. Perhaps there are "swallows" on the forum who can help you with your query, or maybe better to visit your local Belediye. There is one query I have:- we were told 10 years ago that we could get a deposit back on our meter as we didn't actually own it. I bet we don't get a discount when they remove it and install a new one!!

[guru]

Sorry but a question.

If you don,t use any water every month as some are visitors only in certain months do they have to still top up the card every month ?

My understanding is that once you top up with whatever tonnage of water is credited to your card it will remain valid until the credit on the card runs out. We only visit 2-3 times a a year and I put 20 tonnes on my card last month so I'm not expecting to have to top it up again for another couple of years or so.

[come_on_aylin]

We are paying 370 TL for our meter, on the document we signed it showed the cost of meter - approx. 1200TL, less deposit already paid. I assume this is the deposit we paid when we were put on mains water 8 or 9 years ago, my memory isn't that good. I believe that any money you pay will first go towards any accrued debt you have in respect of 'rates', meter purchase and meter rental then anything left over will go towards water. In Esentepe, the monthly charge is 17.22TL for 'rates', 30TL for meter purchase (until 370TL is paid) and 5TL for meter rental. If you miss a month or more then your debt will build up, theoretically you could pay one month's rates, etc and load the card up with a lot of water credit, not needing to go again until your water credit runs out. Of course, you will then have to pay all the rates accrued since your last payment before you can load your card with water credit. The charge for water here is 2 TL a tonne but the lad at the Belediye told us that if you use more than x tonnes in a month then the charge goes up to y TL a tonne, I think x is 20 and y is 3TL but can't swear to that. How that works in practice I don't know.

[Leither]

Ok in Lapta you pay for say 10tons of water cost 25tl there is nothing to say that 10tons is entered on your card,yes you get a receipt saying you have purchased 10tons but when you enter it on your meter you find out there is less I"ve discovered this twice in two months,You do not have to purchase water every month if you are a swallow you may only have to purchase water two or three times a year but remember you still have to pay your normal bill monthly or in advance and you annual property tax come Jan or Feb hope this clears things up a wee bit.

[Repent at Leisure]

Ok in Lapta you pay for say 10tons of water cost 25tl there is nothing to say that 10tons is entered on your card,yes you get a receipt saying you have purchased 10tons but when you enter it on your meter you find out there is less I"ve discovered this twice in two months,You do not have to purchase water every month if you are a swallow you may only have to purchase water two or three times a year but remember you still have to pay your normal bill monthly or in advance and you annual property tax come Jan or Feb hope this clears things up a wee bit.

My meter has gone wrong again, no water, checked today showed 18 tons in credit but meter "kapali", error 1 yet again, went to office logged error on their system, top up card it will be okay I was told, paid 25tl card top up and got 10.3 tons, put card in meter now 28.3 tons in credit but meter did not open, it bleeped, registered the top up but still "kapali", please can we go back to the old meters.

Weekend now, will our water last till Monday?

There should be an emergency number to call, maybe there is, anyone know?

Kapali means closed for those who don't know.

[guru]

Hasan at Esentepe Belediye told us that the only way to do direct debit for Esentepe council & property tax is to open an account at the local Koop bank in the village, so that's what we will do when we are next over. We paid in full for the meter and if we can set up this DD then all we'll need to worry about is topping up the card for the actual water. The first time we topped up with 20 tonnes and it showed 20 on the meter.

[Leither]

Lapta water payment and monthly payments have changed yet again.I spent 45minutes up in that damned office this morning,you now have to pay 25tl for 10 tons of water each month whether you use all the previous 10ton or not,just like the old system,the problem is the annual payment slip that you received when your meter was fitted is out of date,you are not being charged one month 20tl then the following 28tl,you are being charged 70tl plus,the is no reason for this and it certainly wasn"t mentioned in the letter briefing.
When you go up to pay these monthly charges question them as we are once again being taken advantage of,as long as we accept this they will carry on taken the piss!

[diver]

I have spent lots of time in the Belidiye office over the last few months trying to make sense of the water charges. Last Friday I went in with a list of questions and here are the replies - although they could be out of date by now!

Monthly charges for refuse collection - 20tl per month for 6 months of the year
Monthly charges for pest control - 8.34 tl per month for 12 months of the year
Monthly water charge 25tl per month for ten ton if you have your kocan, 45tl per month for ten ton if you don't have your kocan

When I queried the water charge and the fact that I may not use 10 ton per month (as I don't) I was told that you still have to pay for 10 ton per month regardless. You don't have to take your card to be 'reloaded' with water but you do have to pay the monthly fee. Tolga told me to think of it as a tax rather than a charge for water.

There is also as mentioned previously on this thread a new standing charge. This is 25tl if you have your kocan and 45tl if you don't. When I went in on Thursday I was told this was a monthly charge but when I went in on Friday I was told it was a 'one off' charge. I hope it is a one off payment otherwise I will be paying over 90tl (including kdv) per month for water. I will let you know what happens next month.

I asked about having my water connection with the belidiye removed and I was told I could do this but to re-connect it would be 1600tl. Obviously I would still have to pay for the refuse collection and pest control charges.

I have been several times to complain about the fact that I have never once got the full ten tons that I have paid for but taking into account the fact that we have to pay for ten tons a month whether we use it or not it all seems pretty irrelevant

I am quite confused as to why we got the water meters in the first place. To me getting a water meter means that we pay for what we use so therefore it encourages people to be careful with their water usage. I have always been careful with water and taught my son to not waste it especially as we live on an island that is short of the stuff!

Oh dear, I am all wound up again.......................

[turtle]

I have always found it crazy that the Beli's charge for large amounts of water every month.
Surely this just encourages people to take that allocation they have been given
Come July when the water runs low the tankers are working all hours to fill people up....its madness...but that's Cyprus I suppose.

[Leither]

I have a few Cypriot friends and neighbours in Lapta I"m going to ask around whether or not the locals are being charged all these extra charges,makes you wonder eh!

[peri]

Re Lapta water meters. Just been to Belediyesi & paid 6 mnths street cleaning, refuse collection & medical upfront but not had to load any water onto card. Also told if you go away & on returning your meter is blank just put your card back in, press button & your credit will still be there.

[CatalkoyChris]

Please keep posting about all these issues, it can be documented in case of legal issues. Likewise keep all your receipts, letters, documentation etc.

If there is a systematic problem having the evidence carefully documented will help.

[smiley]

We rent a small apartment on a Santa Fe development in Lapta. Without warning new meters were fitted, forms left under front door for completion (all in Turkish). We enquired of a friend who told us to take a copy of our passport, a copy of the rental agreement and an old water bill together with the form to the water department office.

We were charged 25tl and issued with a card for the meter, credited with 10 tons. As we wished to pay our Council charges in advance for 4 months we were then charged a further 220tl. We asked the young lady what this was for and she explained it was for rubbish collection, street cleaning and health, she said the charge is 55tl per month.

When we tried to use the water card we found they had put the wrong number on and it wouldn't work. After returning to the office and sorting it out, when we used the card in our meter it only registered 7.5 tons.