The Richmond DPU to correct delayed utility bills for customers after utility meter corruption

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) stated Tuesday that it is correcting utility bills for nearly 5,000 customers after a corruption in the utility meter reading back in October.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the DPU shared in a press release that, "After an extensive review of the data over the last two weeks, a single, correct bill will be issued to impacted customers reflecting both the previous and current billing period."

This comes after an incident on Oct. 17 in which the DPU identified an equipment failure that resulted in the corruption of utility meter reading data for less than 5,000 customers on Richmond’s Southside.

"DPU took swift action and immediately delayed billing to those impacted customers to prevent incorrect bills," stated the department.

To offset the "inconvenience" of the disruption to the billing cycle, the DPU said that the combined bill will only include base fees for one month and a reduction of approximately $40 to $50, which is 15% per customer.

DPU Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II said, "Our goal is to deliver best in class service to our customers. That starts with consistent and reliable billing, but that doesn’t mean issues won’t arise. Service rises to elite status, when we proactively correct issues and our customers can have confidence that we will do what it takes to get it right."

What do impacted customers need to know?

According to the DPU, this month's bills will only reflect usage fees for both the previous and current billing cycle -- no late fees will be charged.

This month's bill will reflect base fees for just one billing cycle, which will be a reduction of around $40 for both water and wastewater customers and approximately $50 for water, wastewater, and gas customers -- about 15% for the average customer.

The DPU said that it's enhancing its meter reading technology for the vehicles that collect utility meter data to improve its reliability. That new equipment is set to be tested and installed over the next several weeks across the city.

DPU Director Scott Morris shared that he is appreciative of his staff, who worked tirelessly to resolve this issue.

"DPU continues to enhance our billing and utility infrastructure citywide, all of our customers will continue to benefit from better, more efficient technology."

Donald added, "This small adjustment is the first step in building that transparency and trust with our customers."