KHON KAEN: Representatives of the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) and one of its contractors have apologised to an elderly security guard living in a small rented room for charging him 309,889.12 baht for his water consumption last month.
The representatives visited Wachira Chumchonsamphan, 62, at his room on Thep Phasuk Road in Moo 16 village in tambon Nai Muang of Muang district on Wednesday to extend the apology.
Piyasak Anantarat, 37, manager of Flexnet Co, said PWA contracted his company to record tap water consumption and send bills to consumers. A problem in the company’s computer system resulted in incorrect data being sent to a field official, who then sent the enormous bill to Mr Wachira, he said.
The official has already resigned, he said.
Sumet Waenpracha, PWA manager in Khon Kaen, said Mr Wachira actually owed only 209 baht for last month’s water consumption and the contractor was ordered to fix its computer problem.
Mr Wachira said he earned 400 baht a day as a security guard and hoped that nobody else would have a similar experience. He had received a notice that the PWA would cut off his supply of tap water, he said.