Houston water customers DRAINED from inaccurate, exorbitant bills are hopeful the mayor’s new plan to fix the problems will work. But many of you have questions about the process. Investigative reporter Amy Davis has answers.
Two weeks ago, Mayor John Whitmire announced the details of his plan to improve water bills. It is supposed to simplify the process, assigning a set fixed rate to each water customer.
RELATED: Everything you need to know about the new water bill plan
This will free up water employees who were reading meters. Instead, they will be replacing broken reading sensors on 125,000 meters across the city.
Question: How do I know what my new set water rate will be?
Answer: The city says they will send every residential water customer a notification either a letter in the mail, or email, or if you have set up a profile on the water department website, you will get a notification that will tell you how many gallons of water you will be billed for every month.
The city is basing your “set rate” on the average usage of the last 36 months, throwing out the drought and freeze months. (June - December 2023 and February - March 2021.)
Question: What does a BLUE water bill mean?
Answer: The City of Houston says: The temporary blue bills are for the minimum 90-day period when all single-family residential customers are on the set usage until they receive the notification they will be moved back to actual usage. The bill will still be blue if a customer is billed for actual usage during the set usage period.
They will not return to the regular white bill until they receive the notification that their remote reading device is functioning and transmitting accurate readings.
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Question: What if my set water bill rate is wrong?
Customer Micah Bachemin wrote: “Residents who have just started getting normal and accurate bills will now be forced to pay ‘set’ bills based on ‘exorbitantly high bills’ they spent months getting adjusted. I don’t see how this is an improvement!”
Answer: When you get the notification that shows your set rate, if it is higher than your accurate average you should email the water department and the mayor’s office to explain why the usages on your account are not correct.
But if you have a working remote read sensor on your meter and the city can see that your actual usage is lower than your set rate, the water department says they will bill you based on your lower actual usage. You would know this because your bill would not be blue.
If you are still waiting for a sensor, should you use water without worrying about a bill?
One viewer named Karen told Amy she is resodding her yard, which means she will be using more water than normal. She wants to do it during this time period when the city is charging her the set fixed rate based on her prior usage.
If you have a similar plan, you should know that the city may only charge you that set rate for a couple of months. If you already have a working remote read sensor, they will get an actual read from that and bill you as soon as they let you know it is working.
But the city says you will get 60 days’ notice before they transition your bills from that set usage to an actual usage bill. The city says it has sent set rate notifications it has not yet sent any bills based on the set rates.
Here are more common FAQs about the new water bill plan.
When you get yours, Amy would like to hear from you. Email: adavis@kprc.com.