‘It doesn’t sit right’: Richmond restaurant hit with $50K water bill after billing error

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — After serving the Richmond Fan District for more than a decade, Social 52 Kitchen and Craft Bar was billed more than $50,000 for water in one month.

Making it in the dining scene is no easy task; that accomplishment is one that the team at Social 52 Kitchen and Craft Bar does not take lightly. 8News spoke with business partners, Mikey Swafford and James Baldwin, who said it was "a testament" to their ability to grow with the community.

Over the years, operations at the restaurant have worked like a well-oiled machine as the team worked to keep up with customers and their responsibilities as a business, including paying the water bill.

That is why it came as a shock when the two received a call from the Department of Public Utilities saying that there had been an error in their billing. At the time, they didn't know how much the problem would cost them, but they said they were told it stretched back to 2023. This weekend, Baldwin and Swafford learned the price tag for the problem added up to $51,594.99.

"We never knew anything was wrong," Baldwin said. He went on to say, "if we had to pay this $51,000 right out the gate, we'd be under.”

8News asked the Department of Public Utilities what caused the problem. A spokesperson told us "The Department of Public Utilities has implemented several process improvements over the last year, one of which is to verify zero consumption reads for meters. In this instance, the wire to the meter transmitter had been cut/damaged for this account, which resulted in a zero consumption being captured by the mobile read units."

After investigating the problem, the department said workers pulled the actual usage and billed the restaurant accordingly.

"I get it for a month or two, okay. You know, maybe even like six months, but three years, like three actual years of not receiving money from an account that apparently owes you that much money. It's got to be a systemic issue, or else it would have popped up a little bit quicker," Baldwin said.

The department told 8News that customers receive a bill based on a monthly service charge. If there is no water consumption, like in the case of Social 52, that is the only charge that will be billed.

Baldwin said the businesses' water bills are on autopay and include the monthly gas and water usage. Because the water was never turned off and they were never told that something was wrong, Baldwin thought everything was fine. Because such a big error occurred and it wasn't caught for years, owners are concerned that others could be impacted.

“To have $51,000 missing from your coffers is a lot of money. So it can't be an isolated situation,” Baldwin said.

The Department of Public Utilities recognizes the challenges that can occur when customers receive a large bill. Our first priority is to ensure that the bill is accurate and then we work with the customer to ensure payments are manageable. Fees are essential for covering the operational, maintenance, and capital costs necessary to provide safe, reliable service and to meet legal, environmental, and infrastructure requirements. The Department of Public Utilities does provide assistance programs for specific groups, such as low-income or elderly to ensure equitable access to essential services as well as payment plans, which was offered to this customer.

Department of Public Utilities Spokesperson