DPU is proactively correcting bills and reducing the average bill of impacted customers by nearly 15% 

Richmond, VA — On October 17, the City of Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) identified an equipment failure that resulted in the corruption of utility meter reading data for less than 5,000 customers on Richmond’s Southside. DPU took swift action and immediately delayed billing to those impacted customers to prevent incorrect bills. After an extensive review of the data over the last two weeks, a single, correct bill will be issued to impacted customers reflecting both the previous and current billing period.

To help offset the inconvenience of this disruption to the billing cycle, the combined bill will only include base fees for one month — a reduction of about $40 – $50, or nearly15% for the average customer.

“Our goal is to deliver best in class service to our customers. That starts with consistent and reliable billing, but that doesn’t mean issues won’t arise. Service rises to elite status, when we proactively correct issues and our customers can have confidence that we will do what it takes to get it right,” said Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II. “This small adjustment is the first step in building that transparency and trust with our customers.”

What impacted customers need to know

• This month’s bills will reflect usage fees for both the previous and current billing cycle.
• This month‘s bill will reflect base fees for just one billing cycle — a reduction of about $40 for water and wastewater customers and about $50 for water, wastewater, and gas customers, or about 15% for the average customer.
• No late fees will be charged.

DPU is also enhancing its meter reading technology for the vehicles that collect utility meter data to improve reliability. That new equipment has been purchased and will be tested and installed over the next several weeks citywide. DPU is committed to serving our customers and ensuring billing accuracy, I am very appreciative to the staff that have worked tirelessly to resolved this as quickly as possible. DPU continues to enhance our billing and utility infrastructure citywide, all of our customers will continue to benefit from better, more efficient technology,” said DPU Director Scott Morris. 

For questions, customers may contact the DPU Customer Care Center at 804-646-4646 or dpucustserv@rva.gov.