Navasota staff launch multi-pronged audit of utility billing after resident complaints

City staff told the Navasota City Council on Monday that they have opened a multi-track review of recent utility-billing problems and will issue credits if the audit finds customers were overcharged. The review spans billing software, meter hardware and a third-party audit of the billing process. The city is using an outside consultant to compare customer bills to the city's rate-order ordinance, while the software vendor, Tyler Technologies (Encode), is reviewing the transition from Encode version 9 to version 10. Staff also arranged for the project manager who oversaw the city's advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) rollout to inspect meter hardware. "We are trying to investigate all of the components of the comprehensive billing system to try to find the problems," said the City Manager (name not specified). "I would encourage residents that see problems continue to bring those to our attention." The city manager told council members the review will result in corrective credits when errors are identified, whether customers request them or not. "If we find an error in this audit that resulted in someone being overcharged, we will make those credits," the manager said. Council members raised operational questions including whether the software transition or the AMI hardware might be the source of discrepancies; staff said the parallel reviews are intended to rule in or out each possibility. No formal policy change or additional funding was approved Monday; staff said they will report back as the audit progresses. The review comes amid a wave of public comments at a previous meeting about errant bills, and the city urged residents to keep reporting problems so staff can include them in the audit.