New city water bill plan may help single-family homes more than renters

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- For months, ABC13 has fought for answers about inaccurate, high water bills in Houston.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire unveiled his plan to address the issue on Thursday.

"I want to be held accountable. If this plan is not a huge improvement and gets water billing off the news, then there's gonna be a lot of people looking for work. That's how dead serious I am," Whitmire stated.

Whitmire said about a quarter of the approximately 500,000 sensors the city uses to measure a building's water usage are broken. Under the administration of former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the city pledged to fix the broken sensors in five years. Whitmire's new plan expedites the process, bumping the deadline up to next January.

Beginning in May, approximately 105,000 single-family residential customers, even those with working sensors, will be billed a set usage rate. For most people, that means the city will average their last 36 months of water. Those in a home for less than a year will be billed for 3,000 gallons a month, which Whitmire said is "the average in Houston for a single residence family of three."

Customers with working sensors can expect to see their actual usage reflected on their bill as early as August.

The plan does not create a blank slate for those who have received extraordinarily high, inaccurate bills. Those who have paid seemingly inaccurate bills or have outstanding balances are encouraged to contact Houston Public Works to work through a solution, which may result in a credit.

SEE ALSO: Houstonians see water rate increase amid claims of inaccurate, high billing

The mayor promised improved customer service under the new plan, with public works now scheduling appointments in person for the first time.

"Tell everyone, you got an outrageous bill this month, ignore it. Call Public Works. I want checks and balances, and if that don't work, call the mayor's office. You call me!" Whitmire proclaimed.

"Other customer classes" will not receive a set usage rate, which includes apartment complexes.

Houston Public Works Director Carol Haddock explained that only about 20,000 sensors are in the "other customer classes" category. Though approximately half the city rents, sensors are shared in buildings, which are significantly fewer when compared to single-family homes.

Haddock said the decision was made to focus on single-family homes for a set usage rate because "Houston Public Works didn't have the resources to go out and manually read" sensors for single-family homes.

At Thursday's press conference, she promised the department has the resources to read sensors in other buildings "on a monthly basis." That responsibility is on the landlord, and tenants will need to rely on their property owner to be diligent.

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