Homeowner's Meter Trick Gets Him in Hot Water

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 14 November 2017)


Outsmart the water authority? Think again, Haşim Bey!

Haşim E. lives in Hisarlık village in Izmir's Tire district.  When he got
a 54-day water bill for 448,561 TL (about $150,000 !) Haşim Bey
(understandably) requested that the bill be corrected. In turn, İZSU
(Izmir water authority) had the water meter in Haşim Bey's home
removed and sent to the Provincial Directorate for Science, Industry
and Technology for a check. 

As the result of the Directorate's review, the real facts of the situation
emerged in a report stating that "the measuring mechanism in the
water meter has been tampered with.  The meter has been damaged
and repairs left undone."  Consequently, İZSU filed a criminal complaint
against Haşim Bey for damaging the meter and illegally interfering with
its operation. 

İZSU revealed details of its investigation as follows: "The reading on
the meter on 22 July 2017 was 00064.  As a result of interference, the
meter's counting was reversed - first to 00000, then to 99999 and on
14 September 2017 the meter reading was 99915.  the previous
reading was 64 cubic meters of water used but when the reading
showed 99915 cubic meters used, the bill was calculated as 448,591
TL.  A new bill is being prepared."


Tire district is in south-central Izmir province.