Toho Water Authority outlines causes of high bills, accelerates device replacement after St. Cloud complaints

Toho Water Authority told the St. Cloud City Council on Feb. 13 that a combination of a recent rate increase, unusually high irrigation and premature failures of remote meter communications devices are the main drivers behind recent customer complaints about high water bills.

Todd Swingle, chief executive officer of Toho Water Authority, told the council the utility began seeing customer concerns in December and launched a dedicated web page and email address in early January for bill inquiries. He said Toho is offering individual bill reviews, free irrigation consultations and bill adjustments where appropriate.

Swingle and other Toho staff emphasized the drivers: a rate change that took effect in October 2024; higher tiered charges for irrigation above 10,000 and 20,000 gallons; local city fees such as stormwater and solid‑waste moved onto Toho bills after annexations; and equipment problems with MTU/MIU communications devices that report meter readings to the office.

Why it matters

The mix of causes affects remedies and who pays. Rate changes and city fees are recurring and visible on customers’ bills; unusually high irrigation or a pool fill is a customer issue that Toho can help diagnose; device failures and reading-estimate procedures can cause billing errors that the utility corrects later. Toho said it is pursuing both customer‑facing assistance and system fixes.

Key details from the presentation

- Rate and fee changes: Swingle said potable water, wastewater and irrigation rates rose about 5% in October 2024; the reclaimed irrigation rate rose about 12.6% and is set at 75% of the potable irrigation rate. Toho also bills city solid‑waste and stormwater fees on its statement; those fees rose “about 8.2%” and in some cases are newly appearing on bills when properties were annexed.

- Usage tiers and irrigation: Toho explained it uses a tiered rate structure; significant increases often appear above 10,000 gallons and again above 20,000. Swingle said average residential indoor use is about 4,000 gallons per month and average reclaimed irrigation use in the service area is roughly 7,000 gallons — a level consistent with Central Florida Water Initiative (CFWI) conservation goals.

- Autopay and payment processing: Toho said customers on credit‑card autopay were blocked if a bill exceeded a $300 card limit; the autopay failed and a past‑due amount then showed up on the next bill. Toho said it is working with its payment vendor to raise the autopay card limit to $1,000 to reduce failed payments and inadvertent delinquencies.

- MTU/MIU device failures and estimate billing: Swingle said the utility is seeing premature failures of the remote electronic transmitters (MTU/MIU) — not the mechanical meter — around the 11–12 year mark rather than the expected 15–17 years. He said about 6,500 devices are identified for repair or replacement in the St. Cloud footprint (about 28,000 Toho‑wide out of a total footprint of roughly 210,000 devices). When a device is offline, Toho said it uses an estimated usage based on the customer’s prior 12 months until a manual read or replacement can be obtained; adjustments, credits or charges are applied once an actual read is available.

- Board‑approved accelerated replacement program: Swingle said Toho’s board approved an accelerated program last night that increases the line‑item spend for meters and MTUs from about $7,400,000 to $12,400,000 (an increase of $5,000,000). He said timing depends on contractor and device availability; vendors have told Toho they can ramp up and prioritize failed devices.

Customer contacts and outreach

Swingle said the dedicated bill‑inquiry inbox received about 33 emails since Jan. 6; Toho also reported a dataset of 62 high‑bill‑related contacts in which just over 20 were due to consumption, about 12 had identified leaks, 17 involved MIU failures or a combination of MIU failure and leak, and 6 related to rate increases. He emphasized that the inbox is routed to a trained team and that Toho also averages about 1,000 calls per day across its full service area.

Toho listed near‑term actions: increase the autopay card limit, offer free irrigation consultations and in‑person bill consultations at City Hall, perform targeted bill‑data reviews even for customers who do not call, accelerate MTU/MIU replacements with prioritized inventory, and present a comprehensive utility management update to the council in late March (staff suggested March 27).

Council response and next steps

Council members thanked Toho for the presentation, cited personal examples of failed autopay processing and urged proactive notifications to customers. Several council members asked staff to ensure Toho’s onsite outreach, coordination with city customer service, and the March workshop include details on Plant 4 upgrades and timelines for the device replacement program.

Ending

Toho asked residents with concerns to email waterbillquestions@tohowater.com or meet staff in the lobby after the presentation for an in‑person sign‑up for a review. Swingle said Toho will share the reports and responses it provides to customers with city staff for transparency.