CREDIT: The District E Office
Council Member Fred Flickinger
900 Bagby, First Floor
Houston, TX 77002
April 5, 2024, Issue 2, Monthly Newsletter
https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Council-Member-Fred-Flickinger-s-April-Newsletter.html?soid=1107463978136&aid=xjIvV7Dn0qU
Dear District E Residents,
Yesterday, Mayor Whitmire announced significant changes to how the city charges customers for water use to restore transparency and trust in the system. Over the past year, we have heard from many residents regarding inaccurate water bills. In 2023, changes were made to city ordinance to address the concerns, but these policy changes were insufficient.
Starting April 1, 2024, single-family residential customers will have set usage calculated, which will be reflected in their May bill. This set usage will provide customers with consistent water bills while Houston Public Works (HPW) makes necessary improvements to ensure the accuracy of future monthly water usage readings:
Customers’ set usage will be calculated as the average monthly water consumption, available on your account, using up to 36 months of data.
More info on this here.
The calculation will NOT include charges during the City’s drought or freeze, water leaks on a customer’s property, or charges for zero or estimated bills.
This set usage will prevent surprises in water bills, as the city works to accelerate the replacement of failed remote meter reading devices.
If customers are using less water than their set usage and have a working remote read device, they will be billed for their actual usage.
If customers are using less water than their set usage and do not have a working remote read device they will receive a credit for the difference between their actual usage and set usage once their remote read device has been replaced.
Single-family residential customers will continue to receive a set usage bill until an upgraded remote reading device is installed on their property or the accuracy of the current remote reading device is verified.
The city expects to install approximately 125,000 remote reading devices throughout Houston beginning immediately and will fast-track the replacement of failed devices.
Customers with an upgraded, working remote reading device will transition to a water bill reflecting their actual usage as early as August 2024. These customers will receive a notice 60 days before their bill is transitioned to the new billing format.
The primary issue causing high and often inaccurate water bills is failing water meter remote read devices. A failing transmitter does not affect your water meter’s ability to accurately measure consumption, but it does affect the ability to accurately transmit consumption information. The City currently has 125,000 failing devices with the capacity to read only 40,000 meters manually each month. This has necessitated estimated bills, calculated using an outdated algorithm.
The city started the effort to replace end-of-life remote read devices in 2019 and so far, 85,000 devices have been replaced. Replacement efforts were stalled during the pandemic when the chip shortage slowed technology procurement globally. Throughout the rest of the year, HPW will redirect meter-reading resources and add contractors to accelerate the remote read device replacement efforts, to replace the 125,000 devices that have already failed by the end of the year.
Customers who are in queue to have their failing remote read device replaced will receive a notice once their device has been upgraded and tested. After confirmation of a working device, customers will receive a 60-day notice before they are converted back to actual billing.
In addition, HPW is working on several changes and upgrades to the water billing system to ensure a holistic approach to tackling the various issues, including:
Expand in-person customer service availability. Customers can now schedule in-person appointments to ask questions about their bill. These appointments will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 10 am – 3 pm at 4200 Leeland (Houston Public Works Water Customer Service Office). There is also a virtual Microsoft Teams option. Customers can schedule appointments at houstonwaterbills.org or by calling 713.371.1400.
Employ new quality control measures to alert to possible inaccurate bills and easy resolution process for disputed bills.
Streamline relief requests into one centralized form. Redesign the utility bill to make it easier for customers to understand.
Amend confusing city ordinances that bureaucratize water billing customer service.
Develop a leak detection feature for private water lines to notify single-family residential customers of leaks on their property.
Implement triggers to pause the auto-draft payment of a customer’s bill when it exceeds a certain threshold.
More information about this program can be found at improvewaterbills.org, including how to update your contact information to receive alerts about changes to your billing. If you have questions about this program, please reach out to the HPW contact center at (713) 371-1400 between 8:00 am and 7:00 pm Monday through Friday or email improvewaterbills@houstontx.gov.
I believe these changes represent a meticulous and careful approach to the issues that have plagued residents over the last few years. I look forward to seeing how these changes positively impact residents and if anyone experiences any issues please don’t hesitate to contact my office.
Sincerely,
The District E Office
Council Member Fred Flickinger
900 Bagby, First Floor
Houston, TX 77002
Email: districte@houstontx.gov
Phone: (832) 393-3008
The District E Team
Dustin Hodges Chief of Staff
Mark Mitchell Deputy Chief of Staff
Demari Perez North Sector Manager
City Resources
Kingwood Community Center(281) 348-2570
Houston 311 (713) 837-0311
City of Houston Solid Waste Department
City of Houston Office of Emergency Management
Community Resources
Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
South Belt-Ellington Chamber of Commerce
Partnership Lake Houston
Kingwood Service Association
Kingwood Super Neighborhood Council
