In 2005, my family (five in number) sold our house and bought an apartment.

I informed the Water Services Corporation of my change in residence (and all other entities), but to my surprise, and utterly by accident, I realised that WSC had registered my new residence as having‘0’ residents. Thus, for four years I was not given family credits on a total amount of e3,713 in paid bills, as if ghosts or illegal immigrants had occupied my new home consuming water and electricity on my behalf.

I e-mailed the WSC on Sunday 9, and on Monday 10 August visited its offices in Luqa to claim back what I had been overcharged due to the WSC not transferring one household data to another. I was naïve to think that Big Brother would never choose to overcharge its citizens through its bureaucracy. My only fault was that I used to blindly and promptly write cheque after cheque to settle my dues as any decent citizen would do/

On Monday 17 August I received a reply from WSC where I was informed, and I quote, “it is not our policy to revise backdated bills”, even though I did hand in copies of all related bills.

Fellow citizens beware!

M. Genovese

SLIEMA