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Billing reports let staff spot likely leaks, contact customers, staff says
Summary
A municipal staff member said new daily billing reports have helped the billing department identify unusual water use patterns, let staff alert customers about possible leaks and make it easier to explain high bills.
A staff member said the utility's new daily billing reports have helped the billing department detect likely leaks and contact customers about unusual water use.
The change matters because it gives staff data to explain high bills and to reach out proactively, potentially reducing unresolved billing disputes and prompting customers to check plumbing.
"The customers have been, I think, pretty happy with it. It's given the billing department the ability to be proactive," the staff member said. "They can look at the reports every day, see if somebody has a leak, reach out to the customer and say, hey, you have some unusual use. You might wanna check your toilets, etcetera. Okay."
The staff member added that visible patterns in the data help both staff and customers understand likely causes of high use: "So that's been really, really helpful. And I think it's really made it a lot easier to help customers because, you know, if you don't know why it's happening, you can't see any data, it's really hard to just go, sorry. You have a high bill. Go figure it out. And they can see the patterns, and they start to learn from the patterns what the likely source is."
The transcript indicates this was reported as an operational improvement; there was no vote, ordinance or budget action recorded in the provided excerpt, and no quantitative leak counts, dollar savings or implementation timeline were specified. The staff member's comments reflect program experience and customer reactions rather than a formal policy decision.
