Hecla Water Association


 

Customer Service

Rates & Fees

Water Rate

New Rates for 2023:
Account #’s starting with 101-136 Minimum Bill $24.15 ($1.00 increase)
Account #’s starting with 737-749 Minimum Bill $27.15 (No increase)

All Accounts Per 1,000 gallons over 1,500 $15.40 ($1.00 increase)

ServLine Water Loss Protection $2.00
ServLine Repair Protection $4.40 (Optional)
If you have any questions, please call 740-533-0528

Residential Water Tap Fee

$2,000.00 Base Price. Additional charges could be applied for extra footage to property line, road boring, equipment rental, and site restoration. Please contact to the office to schedule a cost estimate appointment.

Service Call

Same Day Reconnect Service: $60.00
 

Returned Check

Up to $35.00 fee

Cutting Lock

$100.00 fee if a lock is removed from meter

Setter damage

$150.00 fee if the setter is damaged while illegally reconnecting service

Bypassing meter

$150.00 fee if water is illegally reconnected (and possible prosecution under Ohio Revised Code 4933.18)

PAYMENTS

Payments must be received in the office by the 15th of each month to avoid a 10% late charge. If the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, the payment must be in the office by the last business day prior to the 15th. At the Hecla Water office, there is a Drive Up Window with two lanes and a Night Depository Box. Credit cards may be used in person or by calling the office. If US Post Mail is used, allow delivery time in order for the payment to be received in the office before the due date.

Delinquent Accounts
After the 15th, all accounts with a previous balance of $50 and a total bill of $100 or more will be locked automatically.  If you are unable to pay the full amount of the bill, the previous balance must be paid by the 15th to avoid disconnection. After the 15th the full amount must be paid. To restore service the full amount of the bill plus a reconnection service fee must be paid. Service fees cannot be paid online. Service fees must be paid during business hours at the office or over the phone by credit card.

Online Payments and AutoPay with ACH

There is a payment limit of $150.00 for customers who wish to pay online or set up automatic bill pay. There is also a $2.75 transaction fee for each payment. Bills over $150.00 will need to be split into separate payments. If your total amount due is over $150.00, ACH will not autopay your account. You will need to call the office or manually pay a smaller amount.

Click here to pay online!

TRANSFER EXISTING SERVICE

Property Owners
If you purchase a residence with Hecla Water service, you are required to provide proof of ownership to the Hecla Water office in order to transfer service. No deposit is required for property owners.

NEW SERVICE/TAP INFORMATION

If you are building a new house or moving to a house without water service, within the Hecla Water service area, call the office to meet with a field representative to determine if water service is available.

F.A.Q's.

Average Usage
Average daily water usage for a Hecla Water customer: 100—150 gallons per day/household.

Meter Readings
Water meters are read from the 1st through the 15th of each month. If meter is read on January 10th and again on February 10th then the March water bill is water used during the time between January 10th and February 10th.

If a customer has a water leak, it can show up in the usage over several billing cycles.

Water Meters
As water meters are replaced, a touch-read meter is installed, which has a sensor in the meter box lid. The water meter lid does not need to be removed to get a reading on a touch-read meter.

Pressure Regulator
A pressure reducer is the responsibility of the water tap owner to install and maintain. The reducers should be set at 60 psi and is adjustable by the tap owner.

The tap owner chooses the location for the pressure reducer. Most commonly, the locations for the reducer would be three (3) feet from the water meter or under the residence where the line connects to the residence plumbing. The reducer could also be buried somewhere along the water line from the meter to the house, in the basement or in the crawl space under the residence.

High Pressure in Residential Plumbing
The pressure regulator can shut down and not let any water through. The pressure regulator can open up and let all the water pressure through. If the regulator has a bypass line built-in then the bypass line may be letting water pressure through and not letting the main part of the valve operate or the bypass line could be letting water pressure through when no water is being used. The regulator could have an intermittent problem and be letting the water pressure increase and then decrease for no apparent reason.

A hot water tank can cause increased water pressure on the cold and hot water lines. When water is heated, it creates “thermal energy”. If the thermal energy is not given a release then this results in an increase in water pressure. The amount of thermal energy depends on the volume of water heated and how hot the water is heated.

Meter Reader May Leave a Note Regarding High Water Usage
What the customer should do before calling the office about high usage:

  • Write down reading on meter DO NOT use any water for 4 or 5 hours (longer if possible).
  • Write down the reading after the time period you waited.
  • Readings should be the same. If there is a reading change, water has gone through the meter into the water line to the house indicating a customer leak.
  • If you have a shut-off valve in the house, close it and do the reading check procedure again. This will indicate if the leak is in the buried line to the house. If the leak is outside, you may notice a wet spot or soft spot in the yard or greener grass growing in one spot. Often, the leak is about three feet from the meter where the connection is made. It can also be at the foundation of the residence.
  • If the reading did not change after the shut-off valve was closed, the leak is in the household Plumbing.
  • Check bathroom commode first. Put food coloring in the back tank and see if it leaks into the bowl. Sometimes a commode will stick only occasionally and then quit or get stuck open and run continually.

Deposits on Faucets
Hecla Water uses well water as a water source. Well water travels through the earth and dissolves minerals as it travels through materials. The primary mineral in Hecla Water that causes the white or off-white deposits on faucets is calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is commonly referred to as “hard water spots”, “calcium deposits” or “lime deposits”. A water softener is the most common device that will remove the calcium. A common filter or activated carbon filter does not remove calcium from water. Calcium carbonate deposits occur with the use of cold water but hot water will deposit calcium carbonate at a higher rate than cold water.

Water for Aquariums
If you have an aquarium, you need to be most aware of Chlorine, temperature, pH and Total Alkalinity of the water. Chlorine should be eliminated from aquarium water prior to putting fish in the water. Chlorine will kill fish. The temperature of the aquarium water should be the same as the temperature of the water the fish is in so the fish are not shocked. Based on the type of fish in the aquarium, you will need to adjust the pH to match the recommended pH for your fish. You may also need to adjust the alkalinity to match up to the type of fish in the aquarium; tropical fish more so than for gold fish.

WHY IS MY WATER BILL SO HIGH?

 

The water meters used by Hecla Water are industry standard meters that meet the American Water Works Association Standards (AWWA) for accuracy and longevity. The American Water Works Association Standards deals with all aspects of the water industry and are applied throughout North America. When a water meter “goes bad” it will register less water than what actually goes through the water meter or the water meter will stop registering completely. Both of these conditions are in the customers favor. For a water meter to “over register” the amount of water that goes through the water meter is rare. It would be more likely that the water meter was “mis read” by the meter reader as opposed to a water meter registering “high”. The water meter will register the water that goes through them (whether you used the water or not). The water meter reading is similar to that of a car odometer because the water meter reading is continually displaying the total amount of water that has gone through the water meter. Newer models of water meters are more sensitive to very low flows of water moving through the water meter (flow rates that will be as low as one hundredth of a gallon will register on the newer water meters but may not register on older water meters).

EXAMPLE OF HOW A WATER BILL IS CREATED:

 

Water meters are read from the 1st (actually the 1st business day of the month) through the 15th (actually the last business day before the 15th) of each month. Water meters are read to try to be a 30 day time frame but because of weekends and holidays the 30 day time frame could be 28 days to 32 days. Hecla Water bills in 100 gallon increments so the ones place and the tens place on the water meters readings are ignored when the water meter is read. Meter read on 1st of January Meter read on the 1st of February Reading on the 1st of February minus the reading on the 1st of January is the amount of water that went through the water meter from January 1st to February 1st. This is the amount of water that is on the water bill. The water bill is then mailed out the last business day of February which shows as the March bill. If this bill is high then you need to investigate but remember this water went through the meter between January 1st through February 1st so you are not going to find that water. First you need to think back to this time frame to see if you remember any conditions that could explain the increase in the amount of water that would have gone through your water meter. Read you water meter when you get your March bill to see if the increase in usage is still occurring since the water meter was read on February 1st (subtract current reading from the reading on February 1st to see if this amount projected for a 30 day month is going to be high also). You can get a reading off of the water meter and not use any water for 4 hours (longer if possible) and then get another reading off of the water meter. If the readings are the same then this indicates that you do not have a leak. If the readings are different then the water went through the water meter and went somewhere. If you have a shutoff valve at your residence and it works you can shut this valve and check the readings again after 4 hours or more to see if the water meter readings changed. If the readings changed then you can be fairly certain the problem is between the water meter and the valve (provided the valve closed tight and did not leak) you closed at your residence. Typically water from a leak will show some type of sign on top of the ground (greener grass or spongy soil) but water will travel the easiest path so it could leach away under ground and not come to the grounds surface. The water meter is your best tool to find a water leak or why your water bill has increased. You can also read your water meter at the same time every day and subtract the readings to see how much water went through your water meter in a 24 hour period. Everyones water habits are different but on average on the Hecla Water system a residence water meter will register 100 to 150 gallons of water a day (approximately 35-40 gallons a day per person in the residence).

 

Most common reasons for a higher water bill:

 

  1. Commode flapper not sealing or guts in the commode tank not shutting off or running on and off at intermittent times. This is the most common but least believed reason for a high water bill. You can put food coloring or even some coffee or tea in the commode tank so the water in the tank is discolored. Do not flush the commode for a prolonged period of time and then look at the water in the commode bowl to see if any of the discolored water has leaked from the tank down into the bowl. If any discolored water is in the bowl then the flapper in the tank is probably not sealing.
  2. Water leak between the water meter and the residence.
  3. Water leak under the residence.
  4. Letting water run during freezing temperatures.
  5. Leak on water line running to a barn, yard hydrant or pool house.
  6. Filling a pool.
  7. Hot water tank pop-off valve leaking and it is plumbed to discharge under the residence or into a drain.
  8. Water leak at the foundation of the residence especially if the residence has a French drain that will drain the leaking water away from the house.
  9. Forget to turn off a water hose going to watering livestock or a garden.
  10. Sprinkler system leak or timer letting sprinkler run for a longer amount of time.
  11. Customers water pressure regulator is letting higher water pressure into the house. A normal water pressure at a residence should be between 50 psi and 65 psi. Water from a faucet will discharge at a faster rate at 75 psi than at 50 psi so over a 30 day month this increase in the faucet discharge rate will add up.
  12. Party such as an inflatable party with a slide that uses water from a garden hose or various water games played by children during hot weather.

Leak Size Amount of water that can leak in a 30 day month
.10 gallons per minute 4,320 gallons
.25 gallons per minute 10,800 galloons
.50 gallons oer minute 21,600 gallons
.75 gallons per minute 32,400 gallons
1 gallon per minute 43,200 gallons
 

A steady leak (even a very small leak) that lasts for 30 days can cause a significant increase in a monthly water bill. For example, If your bill has increased by 4,320 gallons you will not be looking for a 4,320 gallon body of water. You will be looking for a leak of .10 gallons per minute.