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unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.
City of Quinte West
Water/Sewer Policy
POLICY
The Corporation of the City of Quinte West follows a prescribed administrative policy to
ensure the prompt, effective and efficient collection of all water and wastewater charges
that are due to the Corporation.
PURPOSE
The Quinte West Water/Sewer Policy provides the procedures that are followed by the
water and wastewater billing clerks and finance staff to ensure prompt, efficient and
courteous service to the ratepayers of the municipality, provide proper billing of the
water and wastewater rates as per by-law fees and apply the collection procedures on a
consistent manner to all ratepayers.
PART 1 - DEFINITIONS
1. Building of Corporation shall mean a structure supplied with water and/or
wastewater services.
2. Consumer shall mean the owner or occupant of any property which is serviced
by, connected to, and who takes water from a Municipal water system and/or
discharges waste to a wastewater system.
3. Council shall mean the Municipal Council of the Corporation of the City of Quinte
West.
4. Customer means the owner, tenant or occupant of premises who has signed an
application for service to receive water or wastewater services from Quinte West
water.
5. Meter means the water meter supplied and owned by the Municipality to
measure the quantity of water utilized by customer.
6. Billable Unit shall mean a unit, as determined by the municipality, which is being
supplied or is to be supplied with water and/or wastewater services.
7. Multiple Unit Building shall mean a single building served by a single water
service pipe, and containing two or more dwelling units or two or more
commercial or industrial units or any combination thereof.
8. Municipality shall mean the Corporation of the City of Quinte West.
9. Occupant shall include any lessee, tenant, owner, the agent of a lessee, tenant
or owner, or any person in possession of premises.
10. Owner shall include every person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity
that is the registered owner of the premises being supplied with municipal water
or waste water service by the City.
11. Tenant shall mean one that pays rent to use or occupy land, a building or other
property owned by another.
12. Premises shall mean the property being supplied or to be supplied with water or
wastewater services and includes the portion of a multiple occupancy premises
separately supplied.
13. Water means potable water that is fit for human consumption.
14. Wastewater means the composite of water and water-carried wastes from
residential, commercial, industrial or institutional premises or any other source.
15. Appointment meaning date and time scheduled with municipal staff.
16. Contractor means a person or company that undertakes a contract to provide
materials or labour to perform a service or do a job.
PART 2 - ESTABLISH/FINALIZING WATER/WASTEWATER ACCOUNTS
To establish a new account, all arrears must be paid on any/all previous active
and/or inactive accounts and an application for service must be completed. This
application must be completed by all property owners, including the owners of
properties which are occupied by tenants.
When no account currently exists (including new builds):
-
Services are billed to contractor beginning the date water/wastewater
services are turned on by municipal staff.
-
If water/wastewater services are turned on by anyone other than municipal
staff, the contractor is charged a flat rate from the date of service installation
and/or inspection.
-
The property owner/purchaser is required to complete an application for
service. The owner will be contacted by a Water Billing staff member to
arrange an appointment to install a water meter.
Customer Owned Property:
a) Requests to finalize account when new owner has completed an application
for service:
Read meter and change customer information. A fee, as per the current
Consolidated Fee By-Law, will be charged to the new customer for new
account setup.
b) Requests to finalize account when we have no information on new owner:
Read and leave door hanger. Customer is given five (5) calendar days to
contact the office and make necessary arrangements before service may
be disconnected.
Rentals:
a) Request to finalize account when a new tenant has signed for services:
Read the meter and change customer account information.
Tenants are required to complete an application for service prior to the
date they will assume responsibility for the water/sewer account. A deposit
in accordance with the current Consolidated Fee By Law will be added to
the first bill issued to the tenant. Failure to pay the deposit by the due
date indicated on the first bill will be subject to account closure and/or
disconnection of service.
b) Request to finalize account when no new tenant has signed:
Read and leave door hanger. Customer is given five (5) calendar days to
contact the office and make necessary arrangements before service may
be disconnected.
In the event that no new tenant signs for the account, the account will
automatically revert to the owner's name after 5 calendar days.
PART 3 - COLLECTIONS
Bills are due 21 days after the date of issue.
When an account is set up on the Pre-authorized Payment Plan, payment will be
withdrawn on the due date indicated on the bill.
If the account remains unpaid after the due date, penalty will be added as per the
current Consolidated Fee By-Law and collection procedures will commence.
These procedures may include one or more of the following:
-
reminder notice
-
final notice
-
door hanger
-
addition to tax roll for amounts over $20.00
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disconnection
-
Collection Agency
If disconnection occurs, notice will be given to Water/Wastewater
Superintendent/ Manager of Revenue/Mayor's Office.
Reconnection will occur once the account has been paid in full including
reconnection fee as per the current Consolidated Fee By-Law.
If unable to disconnect a tenant for any reason and the account is a minimum of
2 bills past due, the account will be finalized and a new account established in
owner's name.
A fee according to the current Consolidated Fee By-Law will be applied for all
returned items which have been returned by the bank.
Failure to receive a water/wastewater bill doesn't exempt customer from penalty
charges. Any billing sent by ordinary mail or via e-billing is considered delivered
to and received by the addressee within 3 business days.
PART 4 -FROZEN WATER METER
A customer is responsible to heat the space where the water meter is housed. If
the meter freezes or breaks due to neglect, the Owner of the property will be
responsible for the cost of replacing the meter.
Municipal staff will install the new meter once the premises has been properly
heated and/or insulated and all pipes thawed. Municipal staff will remove and
dispose of the old meter.
The municipality is responsible for the maintenance and repair of water meters
excluding when meter has been vandalized or frozen.
o Any other leak must be repaired by the owner at owner's expense
PART 5 - OTHER
To Winterize
-
A reading is taken when the water service is turned off at the street by
municipal staff and the account is finalized. A fee as per the current
Consolidated Fee By-Law is charged to customer's account when service is
turned on or off for the season.
-
The customer is not charged for services while the water remains off at the
street.
For Demolition
-
An appointment with municipal staff is required to read and remove the meter
and turn water off at the street.
-
A final bill is rendered after the meter has been read and removed from
premises.
To Turn off/on & Seal/Unseal Meter
-
Applicable charges as per the current Consolidated Fee By-Law will apply
when any of these services are provided by the municipality.
-
These charges will be billed directly to the property owner.
High Consumption
-
Unaccountably large variances in consumption are reviewed by municipal
staff and may result in the meter being re-read and or a letter being sent to
customer advising of possible leak/broken meter
-
The municipality may allow for one adjustment to one bill per calendar year
on a residential account for an eligible leak.
-
For adjustment request to be considered, customer must submit the following
prior to due date indicated on the bill.
o Receipts for repair if applicable
o Written request for adjustment
o Any other documents requested by municipal staff.