An official-looking “notice” that Allen Countians have received the past few days offering water line insurance has nothing to do with local governments, including Iola’s, that provide water service.
The notices are from HomeServe, Topeka, which is being investigated by the Kansas attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division.
“About all I can say is that we’re investigating the company, and that we’ve had six complaints about the company in the past year,” Jeff Wagaman, with the AG’s office, told the Register Monday afternoon.
“The company and the notices have no connection to the city of Iola and no one has any obligation to reply,” said City Clerk Roxanne Hutton.
HomeServe has only a post office box number in Topeka as an address and at the very bottom of the notice HomeServe is identified as “an independent company separate from your local utility or community.”
Hutton said several people had contacted the clerk’s office thinking they had no option but to purchase the insurance. It is the option of recipients to decide whether they want to enroll in any insurance program, she said, but that premiums totaling $59.88 a year for what HomeServe offers likely would be a waste.
The city is responsible for maintenance and repair of water service lines from mains to each customer’s water meter, with the customer responsible for the service line running from the meter to their residence.
Iola has 2,663 water customers, most of them residential.
Water line problems on the customer’s side of the meter are rare, said Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator.
“We probably average two requests a month from people to have their water shut off so repairs can be made and usually it’s during extremely cold times in the winter when lines freeze,” Hutton said. “It’s not a common occurrence.”
Insurance notice on shaky ground
