(haipo) – An ongoing civil battle is coming to court, with a demand for transparency and justice for Haifa residents. On Wednesday (22/1/25), a class action lawsuit in the amount of 10 million shekels was filed with the city’s District Court against the Carmel Water Corporation. The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Hani and Nizar Tanos, deals with payment demands that allegedly contain excessive charges by the corporation for shared water consumption. According to the lawsuit, these are clearly unreasonable charges, which the plaintiffs claim are harming thousands of residents in the city of Haifa.
The current case is the culmination of a long-running struggle waged by frustrated residents, who reported what they said were unreasonable increases in their water bills. "We didn't know who to turn to anymore," says one resident. According to her, every contact with Carmel Water was met with either indifference or an inadequate response.
Attorney Hani Tanos noted that this is a trend that began in 2021 and continues to this day. "These are charges that increase every few months and raise serious questions regarding the method of calculation," he says. The issue even reached the desk of the State Comptroller, who was forced to intervene in the issue.
According to the lawyers, the corporation insists on collecting the unreasonable amounts, claiming that they match the data in its possession. "This conduct leaves no choice but to resort to legal action," explains attorney Nizar Tanous.
Hoping for transparency and policy change
According to the lawsuit, the damages caused to residents are estimated, by conservative calculation, at approximately 10 million shekels, but this amount may not reflect the full damage. During the legal process, the corporation will be required to present documents and data that will allow the actual amount of the charges to be estimated.
Attorney Tanos expresses hope that the lawsuit will lead to a change in the corporation's policy and improved transparency with residents. "We believe that the court will give a voice to the citizens who were harmed and will ensure that trust between the residents and the corporation is restored," he concludes.
As you may recall, this week it was published inhaipo An article that dealt with anomalies in the measurement of shared water consumption in many residential buildings in Haifa and in most buildings in the Neot Peres neighborhood. The article, which revealed the depth of the problem, came in the wake of many complaints received by the system – and since its publication, the flow of inquiries to the website system has continued, from many residents reporting that they too are dealing with the same problem.
The first article on the subject was published in November 2024, and dealt with a case of unjustified charges for shared water consumption in one of the city's residential buildings, when only one of the residents' appeals to the State Comptroller resulted in the cancellation of these charges and exposed the problematic conduct of the Carmel Water Corporation. Now, the picture that is being revealed raises the possibility that that particular case may have been just the tip of the iceberg.
Mami Carmel responded: The lawsuit that came to our attention has not yet been delivered to Carmel. We will respond and answer in court.
How do you join the lawsuit?
I have received these demands several times in different apartments. I noticed that sometimes the change in the clock was sudden, a jump in one day without any leaks in the area. Also a month ago the clocks were changed and a week ago I received a notice of a leak. We checked - there is no leak.
They replaced my meters with a wireless meter and over the course of four months the bill amount jumped from 70-80 shekels to 800.
Carmel Water claimed there was a leak, I checked and there was none.
This is it???
Only 10 million?!
Enough!
How do you join the lawsuit?
I too am a victim of these thieves.
Every few months you need to call a plumber.
To issue a letter stating that there is no liquidity
Just thieves
Hope they take good care of them.
Stop paying for water and build a community life based on the nearest spring or well. You don't have to pay for God's water. Be your own corporation.
Why are there thieves everywhere in this country? It should be called the country of thieves, not the country of the Jews. Wherever you go, they are looking to steal from you.
I have complained a lot to Carmel Water in the past about unreasonable water consumption. It didn't really help me.
We received a notification about high general water consumption that was charged to each tenant proportionally. In a conversation with Carmel Water, we were told that there was a leak in the pipe from the central meter to the apartments and that a test needed to be performed by a certified inspector. We brought an inspector and paid him 1500 shekels for the test, which revealed that there was no leak in the pipe. Carmel Water not only did not refund the cost of the test, but they also did not justify the relatively high charge.
Excellent. We, the residents of K. Shmuel Haifa, have also suffered from high water consumption charges from the water corporation for many years. And we also request a thorough investigation of the above and a refund of the money we paid unnecessarily.
For years, Carmel Waters has been robbing between 70-80 NIS from each tenant every two months, presumably for shared consumption!!! And this continues even after a professional inspection by a certified plumber and an engineer in the building, which has no leaks and no swimming pool!!!
Our address is Ovadia Street, Haifa.
I would actually defend the water company when they informed me that there was a persistent leak and I found out that it was from the Niagara that was fixed.
If you can't spot a leak in Niagara, you really understand the issue. You can see it, you can hear it. What does this have to do with overcharging cases????
Carmel Waters is simply robbing us without blinking.
Thieves all over the city. Living off the swindler. Free-eating parasites. Printing a ticket and going shopping. Known source.
A body that needs to be treated with a heavy hand. All the celebrations that Yahav gives to free eaters.
Even in private consumption, prices have increased since the Corona pandemic!! I live alone, I get a 100-120 shekel water bill every time! Before that, I got 60-70 shekels per bill. My consumption hasn't changed and there haven't been any significant leaks! I replaced the water meter (at my own expense) and it didn't help.
On 22/5/25 at 17.30:15 PM I am in small claims against Carmel Water. As much as I searched for an attorney for a class action lawsuit, I couldn't find one. And the truth is, after a few inquiries I switched to a personal lawsuit, because I can't leave behind the forgeries they are committing, so that one day someone will wake up at their place and claim that I forged it, and in the dead of night XNUMX Shin Bet fighters wearing evil masks will break into my house and I will disappear into dark basements...
I would be happy to help. For making manual changes to the KRM files. Forging consumption curves when the previous ones disappeared as if they were nothing – go prove that you don't have a sister. Terrible lack of professionalism. Inventing a leak out of thin air for 50 days as Davidi means to detect a leak, not a leak, within a day or two….
I have proof of these actions. I live in a private house, but in shared houses the shared consumption meter is a loophole that invites thieves to manipulate it. A consumer only has to pay for the differences in consumption on his home meter. For shared use, another separate meter must be installed, meaning another consumer. And that's the end of the matter. Everything else applies to Carmel Water and that's the end of the matter.
Good luck with the lawsuit, I'd be happy to help.
Now we remember!!!!! When Bibi and his partners founded
You didn't take the water corporation monster out onto the streets.
Incorrect. There is a common reading when in most studies there is a leak. You can check this by closing the main tap and checking the clock movement.
Finally 🙏
The term means that they made a mistake and don't know why or how much!
Hello, this claim is justified, I also receive a high and unjustified water bill, and every time I contact them they find all kinds of excuses for me, and they always give me editing instead of reading...
I've been chasing them for a year. There's no one to marry. They just send illogical emails. Shared consumption is more than private consumption.
Good morning. I wish they would close them down. I too received an excessive charge. I insisted that they replace the water meter. They charged me a plumber to check where the leak was coming from, which never happened, a bill three times higher than usual, and you should go find someone who will listen and listen.
I also want to participate in the lawsuit, who do I contact? I also suffer from these charges. When I moved to another apartment, suddenly they charged me twice as much and I can't continue like this. It's not normal.
Good luck... Carmel Waters is definitely oppressing us and stealing shamelessly... In five years with the same format I'll pay four times as much
Please provide a copy of the class action lawsuit, and please also publish a copy of the article from November 2024 on the subject of water meters in Haifa, which was perhaps published in Haifa. It is great that there are citizens who are contacting the State Comptroller with a lawsuit to investigate important public matters, because water meters are a problem for all citizens of Haifa if the readings on them are incorrect or are submitted misleadingly to the water bill of every citizen in Haifa.
Everything written above is here with caution and apparently.
It's time! They are charging unacceptable amounts of money to enable dozens of female clerks to earn a living.
Here in Kadima, too, these masses are stealing from us.
I am also a resident of Haifa (Kiryat Haim) and every two months I pay 600 or 700 shekels as if I had a municipal pool.
Congratulations on your work. I also want to join the lawsuit against them. Two people in a house of 300 shekels without even a dishwasher. How do you join? Everyone knows this. The municipality knows and does nothing about this shameful theft.
It's clear that the corporation is a gang of thieves.
Yokneam also has the same problem.
Even after installing a non-return valve to the main tap, there is an abnormal measurement in the shared supply.
The poor answer from the corporation's infrastructure engineers hiding behind the stupid term "hidden leakage."
It's time to clean up the mess and bring those responsible to justice.
The term means that they were wrong and don't know why!
With this money, they will close the lawsuit and continue to charge us as they have been doing for many years. The lawsuit should be about canceling joint consumption charges.
All the best and much respect to the lawyers and this lawsuit. Good luck. That's how it should be with the expensive property taxes that we pay without receiving appropriate service. I've made it clear that Haifa is the most expensive in property taxes of any place in the country. But their houses and apartments and the crumbling facades are reminiscent of the Arab camps in Gaza.
The exact same things are happening in the Ma'onot Geula neighborhood too. We can't get an explanation and change it.
sad.
Without a doubt, a just claim. We sent dozens of letters and the corporation's responses were laconic. They are stealing from the little citizen who is already suffocating from all the heavy taxes imposed on us.
I have several inquiries and also responses from the corporation. It is always in favor of the corporation??? Interesting???
I hope justice comes from the court.
The question of whether there are buildings that monitor the water consumption that goes into the entire building and what each apartment consumes is something that is under the control of each building. There is a clock for the building and a clock for each apartment, and it is not blocked. Obviously, in a building of 100+ apartments, it is simply not possible to do such monitoring, but in relatively small buildings, it is possible to do such monitoring once a week or two (for example, once a week, one tenant from each floor will take a photo and send the building group the clock status of all the apartments on the floor, someone will coordinate and take data from the clock of the entire building). Then, what is important, it is possible to identify if there are large differences between what the building (for the sake of the building) measured and what Carmel Water measured... It is clear to me that there will not be many people who will want to engage in this, but if the entire building unites in a hug against the system and monitors the water consumption of the entire building, and there really are large differences, Carmel Water will have to explain why there are differences between the tenants' measurements and their measurements and how they make their calculations...
Another option is to take water bills for the entire building and check how things were calculated, after all, each bill has a meter status before and after, and you can compare what is in the bill to what is actually there (the expensive problem here is that a water bill is sent 3-4 months after the measurement, and then if there is no real follow-up, you can't know if the data is close to the measurements or not...
This is also true in Neve Sha'anan. They charge excessive prices for water in Ramot Remez in Carmel, in an excessive and suspicious exaggeration.
Not just shared consumption. Also regular consumption. I've been arguing with them for years. Every meter replacement (which I finance! 132 shekels) reduces consumption by two-thirds.
No leak. No connection. Explain to me!
584 NIS
Two adults.
Successful method in all of Haifa. Is there liquidity? Very interesting? Investigate now!
A state of excess in legalization. Sad.
About a year ago, our building received charges for excessive shared consumption,
I brought in a plumbing contractor who tested the shared line with a pressure test and it turned out that the line holds pressure, so there are no losses in the shared line.
The results were sent by Lemi Carmel, to this day I have not even received a response, and of course no refund!!!