Damyang-gun, 31 Cases of Water Meter Reader Corruption Revealing 8 Million Won Cash Embezzlement

Military Audit Results: Over 2,000 Incorrect Charges in Geumseong-myeon Area, 5 Disciplined Including 1 Dismissal

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] As a result of a recent audit related to corruption among water meter readers, Damyang County revealed 31 cases where meter readers, after being asked by residents to pay their water bills on their behalf, did not pay the bills and instead embezzled the money, amounting to about 8 million won.

According to the audit results on the 20th and residents, Grandma A, who lives in Geumseong-myeon, Damyang County, used to ask meter reader B, who came to her house every month to read the water meter, to pay her water bill of around 5,000 won monthly.

Grandma A did not use automatic payment for her water bill, so she reportedly gave cash to the meter reader each month, asking him to pay between 5,000 won and up to 10,000 won at times.

However, the money Grandma A asked to be paid on her behalf was not used to pay the bills but was confirmed to have been used by the water meter readers as pocket money.

Damyang County took disciplinary actions such as dismissal, suspension, and pay cuts against five meter readers found negligent during the audit. Among them, meter reader B, who was confirmed to have embezzled cash, was ordered to fully reimburse the embezzled amount and was dismissed.

This 'water bill bomb' incident in Damyang County occurred after residents who received bills nearly ten times higher than their usual usage fees filed complaints. Damyang County, which conducted a full investigation of water bills, confirmed that the overpayment was due to the meter readers' negligence.

The investigation found that a total of 1954 households in the Geumseong-myeon area were billed 340 million won for May's water usage.

The village's total water bill, which was usually around 60 million won, suddenly increased about sixfold, with some households being charged from tens of thousands to several million won.

Damyang County confirmed that the cause of the incorrect water bill charges was the negligence of the meter readers.

Damyang County stated, "Since January last year, we have introduced a smart remote meter reading system and conducted a full inspection while replacing the existing analog water meters with digital ones. As a result, we confirmed that there was a discrepancy between the previously recorded water meter readings and the actual usage." They added, "Meter readers employed by the county office are supposed to visit each water user’s household monthly to check the meters, but they have been recording usage arbitrarily without proper verification."

Damyang County sent apology letters directly in mid-June to the 1954 households, among the total 15,000 water users, where billing omissions or errors occurred, apologizing and informing them of improvement measures.

Along with this, they also sent advance notices to inform the households of the expected charges for June before finalizing the billing, but residents’ backlash is expected to be unavoidable.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.