by: Roger Warehime, Director, Field Operations & External Relations
I am pleased to announce that OPU is launching its new Water Service Line Protection Program this month. If you are a residential property owner, this program provides you the option for affordable protection against the significant cost of repair or replacement of leaking, damaged or frozen water service lines.
Some homeowners are not even aware that they own the water service line from the meter inside the house all the way out to where it connects to the main in the street. Water service lines don’t often break, but when they do, the repair costs can be several thousand dollars because making the repair often includes tearing up part of the street and sidewalk. This can come as a very unwelcome surprise that many homeowners are not prepared to deal with.
For just $1.99 per month, you don’t have to worry about a broken or leaking service line anymore. If you are enrolled in the program, you just call OPU and we will pay a qualified contractor to make the repairs. In addition to covering the necessary excavation and repair, the program will also cover the landscaping restoration up to the property line including repairing the street, public sidewalk, curb, boulevard, and driveway approach in the public right of way. The program will also cover the cost of thawing a frozen service line one time per calendar year.
Better yet, the $1.99 per month charge is being waived from January 1 to December 31, 2015. We want to make it easy for customers to sign up for the program, and the best way to make sure that everyone that would like to be in the program gets signed up is to auto-enroll eligible customers and then allow those that do not want to participate to opt-out. The downside to an opt-out program is that some customers don’t look at their bills closely each month or read our newsletter. (Obviously, you are not one of those people if you are reading this!) Those customers might feel “duped” when they discover several months from now that they have been paying for a program that they did not actively sign up for. For that reason, we are waiving the fees for all of 2015. This one year free trial period will give everyone time to learn about the program and act to opt-out if they do not see the value.
To make sure that you have been enrolled, take a moment to look at the detail on the back of your bill. Within the water section, you should see a $1.99 charge for “Water Service Line Protection Plan”. You should also see a corresponding credit for $1.99 which is offsetting the charge. If you see the charge and credit and want to be in the program, you are all set and need do nothing further. If you do not see the charge on your bill but would like to participate, please contact one of our customer service representatives at 451-2480 or via email at csr@owatonnautilities.com to confirm your eligibility and enroll in the program.
Enclosed with your bill this month is a brochure which provides additional detail about the program. Within the brochure is an opt-out form. Please complete and return this form to us if you do not want to be enrolled in the program in 2016. You can notify us at any time during 2015 of your wish to not continue with protection in 2016; you will still receive the protection at no charge for the remainder of 2015.
Putting this program together required efforts from a number of employees in several areas of the company. I would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication in making this program available to our customers.