(Click on the image for the Washington Consumers' Checkbook report)
- Bottom line: Even if you own a house for decades, your odds of having a catastrophic water- or sewer-line failure are quite low.
- While They Seem Affordable, These Plans Are Wildly Overpriced
- Claims data from an interoffice memo obtained by Checkbook regarding the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s partnership with HomeServe indicated that only 4,450 exterior water and sewer claims were made from the 126,207 plans purchased during the program’s first two-and-a-half years, an annualized incidence rate of 1.4 percent.
- During HomeServe’s partnership with WSSC, claims for sewer line repairs also averaged just $580; the average was $1,565 for water line claims.
- The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority evaluated these programs and decided not to participate because the plans were “not in the best interest” of customers.