Water and Sewer appeals board urges code changes as resident details suspected billing fraud

A resident and the city’s Water and Sewer Appeals Board pressed the City Utilities Committee on July 15 for clearer billing rules and more help for customers who receive unexpectedly large or duplicate utility bills. Helen Delilah Williams, a Vine City resident, told the committee she believes someone has transferred unpaid charges to her address and said she has been taking cold showers for months while the billing problem continues. “Please help me,” Williams said, giving her address as 642 Lester Street and saying she had filed an identity-theft report with the City of Atlanta.

The appeals board presented data from three years of hearings and recommended several changes to how the city handles customer adjustments, arguing the current code limits the board’s ability to fix bills in extraordinary circumstances. Roseanne Maltese, chair of the Water and Sewer Appeals Board, told the committee that…