The St. Petersburg City Council continues to investigate why some residents’ water bills skyrocketed to as much as six times the normal amount following last year’s hurricanes.

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton subsided, several St. Petersburg residents were left with astonishingly high water bills.

“Imagine my shock when I received my December utility bill for $1,439.21,” said Michelle Dudley, a Northeast St. Pete resident, during public comments at the Feb. 20 City Council meeting. “I was convinced there was an error, as I hadn’t lived in my home for three months.”

Making her case even more notable is that she was married to Bill Dudley, a former St. Petersburg City Council member who passed away last April. She added that the city’s customer service team informed her – and her neighbor with a similar issue – that a leak must be causing the increased water usage. Despite Dudley’s insistence otherwise, she was told the city would conduct an inspection and she must pay the bill in full in the meantime.

City Official Approve Flexibility Resolutions

In response to similar issues, the city council unanimously approved resolutions to provide residents with more flexibility when faced with unusually high water bills. Procedures were established to assist those who suffered from an “involuntary leak during a flood event” or an unusually high meter reading in the absence of a leak.

Residents can appeal to the Utility Billing Review Committee (UBRC), and their water services won’t be terminated while the investigation is ongoing. The council had previously voted not to cut off water for those with unpaid bills during a Feb. 6 meeting.

Causes Remain Unknown

City utility service leaders outlined potential reasons for the high bills. Billing manager Lauren Gewandter explained that water usage has to be estimated when employees can’t read any of the 98,000 city meters due to debris, overgrown grass, or flooding. Gewandter also mentioned that analog meters might be “in poor condition,” with scratched and foggy lenses making readings difficult.

Robert Craven believes his post-Hurricane Helene water bill soared to six times the usual amount due to a flooded meter. “I didn’t hear anyone question these digital meters, which were submerged for an extended period during Helene, and whether they were impacted,” said the Eden Isles resident, noting that his digital meter, installed in December 2022, provided inaccurate readings and experienced “great fluctuations.”

Upgrades and Improvements

Customer support manager David Flintom views digital meters as the way forward. “Every read is going to be accurate pretty much every time, if not every single time,” he stated. “I’m a big fan of those digital meters.” In addition to going digital, Flintom mentioned two more measures to improve the 32-person field operations department: switching from NaviLine – the current system that calculates water bill estimates based on a previous 3-month average – to the Tyler project, which Flintom described as a “more integrated system,” and implementing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to eliminate the need for manual meter readings.

Despite other potential causes for high water consumption, such as running toilets and flood-induced leaks, Edgemoore resident Joseph Sowers expressed skepticism. “I would love to hear the theories as to why flooding would cause high water use and then, without any intervention, the water usage would stop once the water receded,” he said. “It seems improbable that rising water could turn on a faucet and receding water could turn it off.” Sowers added that his father received four bills in five days last October, and while city staff were “excellent,” he found the management practices problematic.

Three residents also reported issues with customer service personnel being rude, absent, or unclear when attempting to resolve their disputes.

As of Feb. 20, 900 customers still haven’t received a bill due to processing delays. Gewandter reported progress, noting this number was down from 2,400 delayed bills in December.

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Google, & X

(Image credit: WFLA)

PIE-Sun.com: local St. Pete-Clearwater news