Replumbing the mains water

 I check our electricity usage most days. I've done so ever since we discovered that the old meter for our guest flat was faulty. But I rarely check the water. The cost of water in Cyprus seems remarkably low, given how scarce water is, and we just paid the bills, with a quick glance at the usage each time. It was typically between about 20 and 35 metric tonnes each quarter, and never more than about 70 euros, often rather less. 

But then early in February, we received a bill where the cost was a lot higher than usual. And a quick glance at the consumption bar graph showed this:

What, we wondered, could have triggered such a high water usage in the previous three months? We hadn't been watering the garden much, because it was the winter. We had previously had problems with water tanks that led to somewhat higher bills, but never this high. And we hadn't had any problems with our tanks for some time. Occasionally one of the toilets would keep flushing water through, but we usually noticed and it never lasted for long. 

We wondered if the meter was faulty. But thought we had better check first to see if we could work out what was going on. Neither the washing machine nor dishwasher was running, and none of the taps were dripping. The toilets had filled up - there should not have been any water usage. But the little dial on the meter was, albeit slowly, going around. So Richard turned the water off, and it stopped. Apparently not a faulty meter, then. 

What seemed likely was that there was a leak in the pipes running between the meter and the boiler room. Unfortunately, those pipes were underneath the driveway, impossible to access without digging it up. Not something we could do, and we didn't like to think what it might cost, let alone the potential disruption, if we could even find a plumber who might be willing to try. 

But Richard had a better idea. He had been planning to re-plumb the house either later this year, or next year anyway. For the mains water, he wanted to replace the old black plastic piping with a new type that's less flexible as it has an aluminium centre. Apparently the old style pipes are easier to join, but no longer meet European standards, as older pipes can contaminate the water with chemicals. 

So he checked Mr Bricolage, our local DIY shop, and found that it was easy to find lengths of the correct kind of pipe:

However, he had a busy few weeks ahead of him, so knew that it wasn't something he could tackle immediately. Since we didn't want to continue wasting such a volume of water, we got into a routine of switching the mains off for most of the day. It turns out to be a great blessing in this kind of situation that we still have cold water tanks as well as hot water tanks, which supply the water for the shower, sinks, toilets and appliances. The kitchen sink has a special knob to turn to get mains water for drinking.

So, every morning for about three months, after my walk or shopping, I would turn the mains water on for half an hour or so. I would then fill up water jugs with mains water for drinking, while the water tank on the roof filled up again. I also kept careful note of how much water we used each day.  

The water bill states (in Greek) that each person in a household, on average, typically uses about 11 cubic metres of water per quarter. So that would be 22 cubic metres (or metric tonnes) per quarter for two of us, and dividing that by 90 days, works out at around 244 litres, total, per day. I was pleased to find that we used between 190 and 250 litres per day, with the higher ones being days when we ran the washing machine, the dishwasher (sometimes twice, if we were entertaining), and also watered the plants.

However, on one day when I somehow forgot to turn the mains water off again until late afternoon, we used over 500 extra litres. The leak underground, if that's what it was, was getting worse. 

When our next bill arrived, a couple of weeks ago, I was pleased to see that it was around 50 euros, with a quarterly consumption of 21 cubic metres. Just under the expected 'average', despite the wastage at the start of the period, and on the day when I forgot to turn it off. I had become quite accustomed to my daily filling of jugs, but Richard decided that the time had come to replace the pipes. So he measured carefully, bought the pipes and fittings, and one of our local teenage friends came to help.

It was more complex than they had expected - as tends to happen with this kind of project - but this is just after the meter was disconnected from the old underground pipes and connected to the new ones:

I'm no good with that kind of thing, and our young friend is strong, and flexible. She is also very interested in this kind of thing, and, being considerably younger than we are, has no problem getting up and down, attaching the new pipes neatly to the wall. 

They worked for about three hours on Tuesday afternoon, and another three or four hours on Wednesday morning. There were a few glitches when one of the fittings in the boiler room wasn't quite right, but eventually all was done. It seems very strange not turning the water off each morning, and I am still checking the daily usage... but it seems to be as it should be. Richard was evidently correct in his surmise that the underground pipes were leaking.  

In the next week or two, they are going to replace the guest flat piping in the same way.

Changing our Cablenet Contract

Four-and-a-half years ago, I wrote about how we decided to move our landline phone and Internet provider from the national company CYTA to the somewhat newer Cablenet.  It saved us about ten euros per month, and gave us a faster Internet connection.

I still have the original documentation, which shows that we signed up for the 'cable/talk + surf + view 20M' package, at €44.64 per month.

At the time, all the Cablenet packages had cable TV included, although we weren't in fact interested in that as we don't watch TV. We thought we might - but it hasn't happened. We wanted to keep our landline phone although we didn't use that much either. And when our last physical phone handset gave up working, we simply diverted the number to Richard's mobile phone; the landline was barely used, and we haven't missed it.

A couple of months after we took out the contract - which was 20M download, and 2M upload, though I'm not entirely certain what the two figures refer to - we were upgraded to 30M/3M, at a slightly inflated cost.  Perhaps that was part of the initial contract; I don't remember. Anyway, for a couple of years it worked well, and we were paying €46.90 per month for the package, plus the occasional few cents if someone dialled the landline and it was then transferred to Richard's mobile.

Shortly after that, we were upgraded again to 75M/5M, and then, earlier this year, 100M/6M. Paperwork arrived with the bill, sometimes, and we glanced at it, wondering if we would do better with a different package. Richard thought that perhaps he could transfer his mobile number to Cablenet as part of one of their new packages which included a mobile. But somehow we never got around to it.

The monthly price had gone up to €52.90 per month, which seemed rather on the high side, when compared to costs elsewhere. But a six euro increase - along with much faster speeds - didn't seem too bad in four years.

Then in the summer, we were away for over a month. Our Cablenet bill for August (it's always paid in advance) had arrived just before we flew, but by the time we collected it from the PO Box, I had turned my computer off. I knew I had until the end of the month to pay it, and since I was taking my laptop with me on our travels, I thought I could easily log into our bank before the end of the month, and pay online. So I popped the bill into my laptop case... and forgot about it.

The Internet connection wasn't great for our first couple of weeks away. But then we stayed for a week in a villa in Coronado, which had a reliable connection. I found the bill, and paid it online without any problem, despite it being about six days after the end of July.

Richard flew back to Cyprus towards the end of August, and visited our PO Box where he found our electricity and water bills, but no Cablenet bill. I was able to pay the other utilities, despite them also being rather late, but was surprised that there was no phone/Internet bill. Everything was working, and I didn't think about it until about ten days ago, when we went to check the PO Box again. Still no Cablenet bill. 

So we went to the Cablenet office. A very helpful lady was able to print off our bill - both the one we should have received in August, and the one for September which had not yet arrived. When we asked why we hadn't had the September one, wondering if they had gone paperless and we'd missed something, she said it was because the August bill was paid late, and attracted a re-connection fee of five euros.

No, that didn't make any sense to us, either.

We asked if we could pay then. Yes, she said. Did we want to pay just the September bill (which included the reconnection fee), or the October one too?  I said we might as well pay them both at the same time, and produced my debit card.

Meanwhile, Richard had been looking at the special offer card that was sitting on the desk.

It was all rather confusing, with several different offers, nowhere near as straightforward as it was four and a half years ago.

I asked if we could have an Internet connection that didn't include TV, since we didn't use that, and the lady suggested a couple of options. However, both of them had rather slower upload speeds than we had been using - and for Richard's work, he likes that as fast as possible.

But after some discussion, we realised that we could get a connection that's almost as fast (5M rather than 6M upload) with the package labelled '2play 60M Purple 2', which costs €39.90/month.

This has no TV, but does include, in addition to home Internet, a mobile phone with a monthly allowance of 400 minutes, 200 SMS and 1gig Internet.  There wouldn't be much point having my phone on this package, since I only spend about €15 per year on pay-as-you-go. I write perhaps thirty text messages in a month, but I don't think I use more than about 60 minutes a year of talking.  And even with my new-to-me smartphone, I don't want to use mobile Internet, other than, briefly, on wi-fi when I'm at home.

However, Richard's phone, which was on a CYTA contract, was costing about €20-30 per month. The basic contract was only €2.50 with what's considered low usage, but he paid another €8 or so for 300m mobile internet per month, and typically at least €10 in charges for calls and texts. Until recently he had used it mainly for work, but now he mostly uses online calling for work calls to people abroad, so the call/text charges to his mobile phone were mostly local. I had felt for a while that we should now be paying this rather than his work (which has been doing so).... 

So once the Cablenet lady had established that his current contract doesn't include any minutes or SMS, she agreed that we would do much better with a new contract. It should save about thirty to forty euros per month.

We had to take in a former CYTA bill in order for the process to begin, but since we already had a Cablenet contract, there were no further charges. Richard was given a new sim card for his phone, and told to change it when he received a text message informing him of when the transfer was done.

On Monday morning he was sent an SMS telling him to start using the new sim card at noon on Tuesday...  and shortly after lunch on Tuesday, when he realised his CYTA connection was no longer working, he changed the card, and everything - so far - has worked perfectly.

All of which is a very long-winded post to say: it's well worth checking special offers with phone/internet companies.  Facilities change, and what seems like a great deal at the start of a contract may not be the best one a couple of years later.

Will we remember to check the options in another two years time....??  That remains to be seen.

Complexities of Technology in Cyprus

Car Tax, part 1
In Cyprus, we don't get reminders in the mail (or even electronically) to renew car tax. We're supposed to know that it needs to be renewed every January, although it's not usually possible to do so until at least the 7th or 8th, and there's a 'grace' period until the end of February, sometimes early March.

And whereas, a few years ago, we could take the information into the co-op banks and get it dealt with by someone else there, it now has to be done at the 'jccsmart' website, a portal that allows for the payment of many bills that can't be paid directly at the bank website.

So, on Friday two weeks ago, when I was doing our weekly bookkeeping, I logged into jccsmart, and entered the information for our blue car. No problem: it recognised the combination of numberplate and the last three digits of Richard's ID, and I was able to pay for another year's tax on my debit card.  Then I tried to pay the tax on the black van which is used for our PA system, and various other loads.  A warning message appeared: it needed an MOT before tax could be paid.

Fair enough; Richard knew it was due its MOT (they happen every two years in Cyprus). He was due to be away, so took the van round the corner to our friendly mechanic, who said that he would sort it out, make any minor repairs or adjustments necessary, and have everything ready by the time he got back.

PO Box Rental, part 1
A few days later, I had to go to the Post Office to post something to the UK.

We get our mail delivered to a PO Box connected to this post office, and we'd just received the reminder that our subscription had run out. We needed to pay for 2017 by the end of March. So I asked if I could pay it while I was there, as it can't be done online. I offered my debit card, and they tried to enter my details, but then said that the system wasn't working.

When we first moved here, the system was a huge hand-written ledger. It always took a minute or two for the postmistress to find our records, but there was never any problem.  For fifteen years we thought it was quaint, but very Cypriot. And it worked. Since they have a new computerised system, it has been much more complicated.

I had already tried to pay ten days earlier, and the system wasn't working then.  So the postmistress (a different one, but they get to know the regulars fairly quickly) suggested I leave the payment with her, and she would enter it the following day when the system was working again, and put a receipt in our PO Box. I could hardly leave my debit card, and didn't really want to give the details, but I had cash on me, so I handed over the amount for for two years' rental of the PO Box, and she clipped it to our reminder, with a note of our name and phone number.

Car Tax, part 2
On Friday, a week ago, I thought I would try again to pay the car tax.  Once again, the warning message about the MOT appeared.  Evidently they had not yet got around to doing it.

PO Box Rental, part 2
On Sunday I was in town, although the Post Office was closed, but I checked the PO Box anyway. Our electricity bills were there, but there was no receipt for the box rental payment. I shrugged, mentally. Perhaps the system was still down.

I thought no more about it until yesterday, when I needed to post something else, so I walked the mile or so to the Post Office again, and checked the PO Box. Our water bills were awaiting me, but still no receipt for the box rental.

So I went in to post my letter. There was a different postmistress there, looking a bit hassled (usually there are two of them), and when I asked about it, and explained, she said that 'the system' was now working but she would have to look for my payment and paperwork, and would let me know. She wrote down my name and phone number again. I was beginning to feel a little anxious, but this kind of thing usually works in Cyprus. So I hope I'll hear from her next week...

Car Tax, part Three
When I got home again, I logged onto the JCCSmart site, and entered the van information. This time, I was given the go-ahead to pay the tax. So the mechanic must have done whatever was needed, and it had passed its MOT.

However, as I was entering my debit card details, I saw that the card had expired at the end of January. Oops. A pity I hadn't realised earlier, as I came past the bank on my way home from the Post Office, as I needed to buy some fruit and vegetables. But I put on my shoes again, and walked to the bank....

New Debit Card
New debit cards don't get sent to the owners, for security reasons. But in the past when my card had expired - or when it was about to - I simply popped into the bank.  New debit cards were usually in a rather random looking pile of envelopes, and it would take the clerk a minute or two to locate mine, but it was always there.

At first, when they started issuing them, my debit cards were only valid for a year at a time. But the last time I collected one was at the end of January 2014. The one that had just expired had lasted for three years, so I had got out of the habit of popping in at the start of each year. Since then, the bank has moved to new, smarter premises, and updated their systems.

So when I handed my card to the clerk, after quite a long wait in the queue, he looked puzzled, but entered the number into his computer so he could see our bank account. I pointed at the date on the card, and said that it had expired, and I wanted my new one. He asked me if I wanted to withdraw cash. No, I told him, I just wanted a new card.

He asked if they had phoned me, to let me know it was at the bank. No, I said. When it had expired before, I came in, and they found my new one for me. He looked confused - this was not a clerk I had seen before - and went off to another office, before returning and saying that he couldn't find it. Then he turned to the clerk at the next desk, and asked him (in Greek) if he would deal with it.

The second clerk seemed to be more senior, but also went through the process of typing my card information into his computer. He clicked several things, and then said, 'Ah. Your new card has been cancelled.'

'Why?' I asked.

'Because you did not collect it in two months. It was at the bank on December 2nd. You didn't collect it so we cancelled it on January 25th.'

'But it hadn't even expired then,' I said, trying to stay calm and as assertive as I could. 'Why would you cancel it?'

'We telephoned and there was no reply,' he said. 'Maybe we have the wrong number?'

I checked, and they had both my mobile number and our house phone. I said that we were away for a couple of weeks after Christmas, and he said that perhaps they phoned then.

'So how can I get a new card?' I asked, realising it wasn't his personal fault that the card was cancelled incorrectly.  He said he would have to cancel the cancellation. He typed some more things on the computer, printed something out for me to sign, and said that there should be a card within the next few days, and that they would phone me....

Utility bills
So I came home again, realising that I still couldn't pay the van tax.

However, I knew I could pay the water and electricity bills at our bank website. I was pleased that they were rather lower than I'd expected, probably because we were away for a couple of weeks during the billing periods.

I logged into the bank site, and was greeted by a screen telling me I needed to update my details, for security reasons.  Yet more new technology.  I checked that they had correct phone numbers, address, and my passport number - no problem.  But then I had to fill in all kinds of other information about our status in Cyprus, and whether we filed taxes in other countries (we do, in the UK), and what my source of income is, and what it's estimated to be in a year.

I became more and more bewildered, since none of the categories applied to me, and I had no idea if they wanted figures relating just to me, or to both of us. But it wouldn't let me leave it until another time, so I had to make best estimates and keep going through several pages.

At last this was complete, and I was, thankfully, able to pay our electricity and water bills.

But what a performance.

When we first moved here, online banking in Cyprus didn't exist. Nor were there debit cards. We had to write cheques for our rent, and at supermarkets, with our home phone number considered sufficient identification. We also had to write cheques for utility bills and take them to the relevant offices.  Like the Post Office box rental ledgers, it was old-fashioned and non-technological.

But it worked.