AUSTIN, Texas – Austinites might be getting a credit back for their water bills after the City of Austin apologized for issues with the water meter readers.

Residential water customers brought the issue to the City for problems in the way their water use was assessed in August and September of 2017. The meters show unusually low water use for August and then a spike in September.

Approximately 7,400 customers should expect credits for their bills estimated at $20, but not exceeding $80. The total amount of money going back into residents’ pockets is around $138,000.

“We should have found this faster and we should have found it ourselves. We should have had better safeguards against unreasonable water meter reads,” said Jackie Sargent, general manager of Austin Energy.  

Austin Energy is in charge of metering and billing for all of the cities utilities, which includes water. It will work with Austin Water to put protections in place to prevent this issue from happening again.

According to Sargent, water meter reading technicians have already started photographing every single residential water meter to ensure accurate data is collected. The pictures will help bill analysis when questions arise over meter usage.

The customers who brought this issue to the City’s attention are being thanked for voicing their concerns, which launched the investigation.

The customers getting a bill credit will receive a letter in the mail by Feb. 15.

“Restoring confidence in the meter reading system is critical,” said the Director of Austin Water, Greg Meszaros. “We apologize to our customers, and we are taking all the necessary steps to improve the process and make things right.”