Fort Worth Says Water Utility Addressing Concerns Over Higher Bills
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The City of Fort Worth Water utility will begin using a certified independent testing company to review the accuracy of some of its new and old water meters, after some customers have complained about higher bills recently, the city said Thursday, Jan. 28.
Specifically, the customers have questioned the accuracy of the meters.
The city said it encourages people with concerns to call the customer relations staff at 817-392-4477 to discuss these bills.
"Fort Worth is addressing its aging infrastructure through a program called myH2O. Fort Worth routinely exchanged water meters, but for the first time is addressing its entire system at once. New meters are replacing many meters that are at least 15 years old and no longer reading high water flow," the city explained in a news release.
The city said data coming from the new meters is actually benefiting customers.
Initially, 2,100 customers will receive letters because their data shows continuous usage of at least 1 cubic foot of water, or 7.48 gallons, every hour for 72 consecutive hours. This is a strong indication there is a leak. Fixing these leaks will lower their monthly bill.
About 140,000 new residential and commercial meters have been installed since 2016.
Fort Worth has approximately 270,000 meters.
The bulk of the exchanges are taking place between 2020 and 2022.
Seven of the utility's 21 billing cycles are completed and meters are remotely read for billing.
The city said, customers will be able to follow their water usage when a web portal is expected to become available in the coming months.
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