Question: Is the Honolulu Board of Water Supply aware of any over-billings (duplicate charges) for auto-pay customers? If yes, is this problem widespread? Do customers have to identify the problem themselves and seek a refund? Or will any double charges be automatically reversed?
Answer: About 1,000 auto-pay customers were double-billed in August. No, customers don’t have to detect the error themselves and seek a refund. The Board of Water Supply says it corrected the errant deductions about two weeks after they occurred and is notifying affected customers.
Kokua Line emailed these questions to the BWS on Aug. 30, after hearing from a customer who noticed the payment for his water bill was deducted from his bank account twice that month. He had trouble getting through to customer service by phone to report the problem and wanted to know whether other customers also were affected. On Thursday we received the following reply from the agency’s communications office:
“On Aug. 24, 2023, the Board of Water Supply processed an automatic bill payment file in error. This affected just over 1,000 customers in the Hawaii Kai to Kailua areas whose deductions were scheduled for Aug. 10, 2023. Refunds were issued directly to their bank accounts on Sept. 8, 2023, and we are in the process of mailing letters of notification and apology to all of them. We regret that this mistake occurred and want to assure our customers that the automatic bill payment service remains a convenient and reliable way for them to pay their bills. If they have any questions or concerns about this matter, we have dedicated team members to assist them. They can get help by calling 808-748-5040 or emailing us at help@hbws.org, Monday through Friday between 7:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.”
Affected customers had payments deducted correctly on Aug. 10 and in error on Aug. 24.
The BWS’ website says that “through the Automatic Bill Payment (ABP) service, your participating bank, savings and loan, or credit union can pay your water (and sewer) bill by automatically deducting the amount due from your financial account.”
Customers using automatic payments for any type of bill should always check their financial accounts or statements to ensure that the correct amount was deducted.
Q: There’s a new COVID- 19 vaccine, and we’re all encouraged to take it. My husband and I are both seniors, but we had COVID-19 infections at the end of June/early July. Is there a waiting period before we take the new vaccination since we just had COVID-19 infections?
A: Yes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people recently infected with COVID-19 wait three months to get the new vaccine; count from when your symptoms started or, if you had no symptoms, from when you received a positive test.
Immunity to COVID-19 is highest during the three months after vaccination or infection and wanes over time, the CDC explains. In your case, you are likely to have some natural immunity now, and waiting until October to get the new shot might stretch your protection into what is usually a peak season for COVID-19 (November to January).
Q: I’m 76 years old, and last spring they recommended that anyone 65 or older should get a new COVID booster shot. I have kept up to date with each booster shot recommended, so in April I got that booster. Now that they have announced a new version, can I get that shot, or is it the same one that I received in April?
A: Yes, you can get the new shot, since more than two months have passed since your most recent COVID-19 booster. The updated vaccine is not the same as the one you got in April. The new shot targets omicron strain XBB.1.5. The bivalent booster used last spring targeted a much earlier omicron strain (BA.5) and the original COVID-19 virus, according to the CDC.
The state Department of Health said in a news release Thursday that “the new vaccines address the XBB-lineages of the Omicron variant that accounts for 99% of COVID-19 cases in Hawai‘i.”
The shots are expected to be widely available in Hawaii by next week.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
