The Fayetteville Public Works Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to continue selling water on a wholesale basis to Hoke County.
In another matter, the PWC’s board also approved a resolution to borrow $1 million from the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality. This is for an inventory the PWC is making of water lines in the city that contain lead or copper.
The board also received a written report about the methods by which people pay their bills. Online payments are the most popular with the PWC’s customers.
Hoke County water
The PWC has been selling water to Hoke County since 1999, PWC spokesperson Gavin MacRoberts told CityView. Wednesday’s vote is a continuation of those sales. State law prohibits the PWC from speaking in detail about a customer’s bill, MacRoberts said, but he was able to say that Hoke County is billed at wholesale prices.
The wholesale price varies with the size of the wholesale customer’s waterline and other factors, according to the PWC’s wholesale rate documentation.
Hoke County says it provides water to 12,500 connections, serving 37,500 people.
Lead and copper line inventory
The commission voted to accept a $1 million loan from the Dept. of Environmental Quality for its inventory of lead and copper lines in the PWC’s service area.
Waterlines used to be made with lead, and older copper water lines may have lead solder. (Solder is a metal alloy that is melted and used to attach two pieces of metal together.) Older homes and businesses may still have these lines, and the PWC is trying to track them. Lead is a health hazard.
The loan, which is subject to approval of the Fayetteville City Council, would be at 0% interest, but with a 2% closing fee, PWC documentation says. Also, $600,000 of the principal would be forgiven.
How people pay their bills
A chart provided to the PWC’s board members shows that when customers pay their bills, online transactions are the most popular method.
In June, the PWC received 115,352 payments:
- But people can drop off payments in person at the PWC’s drive-thru, at its payment kiosk or at the night depository at the PWC office — 5,046 customers used one of those three methods.
- Another 11,582 customers sent payments via the mail.
- 22,614 have payments drafted from their bank accounts.
- 15,589 used the telephone voice response system to pay.
- 2,941 paid with Western Union’s payment system.
- 49,499 paid online via the Bill2Pay service, and 8,081 paid online with online banking.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
In my opinion, the article should go on to explain what PWC will do with the completed survey of copper and lead pipes in the community. What good is a survey without a plan to rectify the lead issue.