February 14, 2023 10:01 PM

January Utility Bill Update - February 14, 2023

In our Council’s effort to help you with your January 2023 water bill which may have increased due to the Accurate Meter Supply’s almost completed new accurate smart meters replacement program we offer this information.

In June 2022 Accurate Meter Supply was selected by the Council to replace our meters starting in the Fall of 2022. When finished, the smart meters will electronically send your precise water use to our billing system. As each old meter was replaced a picture of the meter reading was taken to ensure an accurate final reading.

Prior to the replacement of the old meters, the City of Jourdanton- like other cities - with old meters used Public Utility Commission regulated “utility bill averaging.” While the city’s 14-year-old meters were recording actual water consumption some of the outdated meters did not send the radio signal to the city utility billing staff. Accurate water use and accurate billing ensures the City’s Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Superior water system rating is maintained.

Over the last several days - after January bills went out – city staff’s independent quality control analysis identified computer billing files delivered to our utility billing system with decimal point formatting problems. While every city that converts to more accurate smart meters can expect an increase in utility bills our current investigation indicated the computer issue may have caused some substantially higher bills.

Due to the financial hardship caused by the unresolved computer issues we offer help:

For Jan. 2023 water utility bills-which were due Feb. 13th at 3 pm- citizens in routes 7, 8 and 2 AND any other route that may have incurred a higher-than-normal water bill- 20% or more- will not be responsible for any late fees if they simply pay the same amount as the December 2022 water utility bill by Monday February 20, 2023 at 3 p.m.- a one week extension of the payment deadline is offered to residents with January bills 20% higher than the December bill.

In the event your payment has already been automatically billed to a credit card you can email by Monday February 20th, 2023 at 3pm - utilitybilling@jourdantontexas.org -to request either a check refund or a credit to your utility account. The city does not have the ability to offer a credit card credit. A check refund- will be mailed in about – in about 5-6 weeks – after an updated and or a corrected January/February water bill can be generated, in accordance with city ordinance and PUC regulations. In the event you request a January 2023 refund, the refund can be applied to your February 2023 water utility bill. Let us know- utilitybilling@jourdantontexas.org.

Online Payments can be made at: https://www.municipalonlinepayments.com/jourdantontx

Text Alerts: Register for FREE Texts at: https://www.jourdantontexas.org/list.aspx

Thank you for helping the City maintain the TCEQ Superior system recognition.