Hold on, relief’s coming for Gulfport residents with erratic water bills, city says
A failing part on electronic water meters has made it “impossible” for the city to send out monthly utility bills on time, driving up costs for customers who now receive their bills every 40-45 days.
It also means residents have not been charged for one month of garbage collection. The administration proposes hiking bills over 12 months to recapture the money, which amounts to $16.86 per resident.
The council has not voted on the proposal.
The city will soon also ask the council to add five employees at a total cost of $268,375.00 to bring bills back to a cycle that would be no longer than 33 days.
The council held a special meeting Tuesday to hear about the plans and ask questions.
The city plans to replace 40,000 water meter register heads. The replacements will be funded over two years.
Meanwhile, city employees say they are receiving 100 work orders a day over issues with water meters. Council members said they are getting plenty of complaints, too.
Public works Director Wayne Miller said a design flaw in the register head chip drains the battery, causing the malfunction. He said the problem has been occurring since 2014. The electronic meters were installed in 2010.
The administration stresses that the flaw does not change the accuracy of meter reading. Instead, residents are seeing higher bills because longer billing cycles can bump up water usage.
Mayor Billy Hewes said in all cases where residents have received bills that amount to several hundred dollars each, the city has found water leaks were responsible.
The Water Department adjusts those bills so residents do not have to cover the cost, but residents must complete a leak adjustment form and turn it in to the city.
The billing cycle has been irregular since at least March, according to bills one resident shared with the Sun Herald.
Higher and sporadic bills have been most difficult on residents with fixed incomes, many of them elderly, and those who have the charges automatically deducted from their checking accounts.
The city is replacing broken register heads with new ones that can be read from a central location. This year, $1.6 million will be used for the work.
The city plans to spend a total of $4.5 million to replace all the register heads so workers will no longer have to drive around to read meters.
Utility bills include water, sewage and garbage service.
The city is buying the register heads from Master Meter, the same company the previous meters came from.
