PEARLAND, Texas — People in Pearland have been trying to figure out what’s going on with their water bills. Residents have received higher-than-normal bills, and in some cases, two separate due dates in February.
Johnny Davis emailed KHOU 11, asking, “Can you verify that the City of Pearland lost $6 million due to a change in the water billing cycle and residents are being billed for it with an extra billing cycle?”
Our source to answer this question is the City of Pearland.
Joshua Lee, Pearland’s Director of Communication, said there is no lost money.
He sent the following explanation of the billing discrepancies:
“Currently, there is approximately a two-month gap between the service period (when water meters are being read) for consumption and when that information is being converted into a bill that customers can pay. This was caused by a change in when meters are read versus when billing occurs. Meter reading is on a 28 day cycle so consumption from one period to the next is consistent, billing is on a monthly basis so customers only receive 12 bills per year. This creates a gap between those two values that has grown over time.”
Lee said the system is about $6 million in arrears, but it is false the city “lost” the money. Residents are only being charged for services they have already used. Now the City of Pearland is trying to get caught up to close that gap.
This week, city leaders came up with a new way to catch the system up more gradually. Pearland’s city council will vote on that plan Monday.
Here is a link where you can learn more about the plan.
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