Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Rudy S. Chow, P.E., announced today that the final quarterly water bills will arrive for City customers in September, as the agency ends its practice of sending out water bills four times per year and prepares to implement monthly billing.

BaltiMeter Billing is set to be turned on Oct. 11, and monthly water bills will start arriving soon afterward. Water customers are advised to keep in mind that the arrival of the first monthly bills will be staged into November, and not to worry if the bills do not show up right away.

For some customers, the final quarterly water bills arriving in September may cover more than the typical 90 days; others may see considerably fewer days in their billing period.

Director Chow acknowledged the inconvenience the September bill may cause some of our customers, but said it is necessary in order to make the switch from one billing cycle to another. The billing cycle was already adjusted so that no customers received a regular quarterly bill in August.

“This change comes as we transition from quarterly billing to monthly billing, and is necessary to both bring to a close the old billing system and ramp up the new monthly billing system,” he said.

Due to the transition from quarterly to monthly, these first monthly water bills might reflect as much as 45 days of water use. Subsequent bills will be on a regular monthly schedule. Monthly billing will allow for more convenient budgeting, and let customers see more quickly any unusual water consumption trends or spikes.

The new bills will be based on how much water is used and will clearly show each cost that the bill covers, including fixed costs for account management and infrastructure investment. These costs are already included in the rates customers have been paying, but are not currently identified as such on the bill.

BaltiMeter Billing is part of DPW’s ongoing investments to modernize the City’s infrastructure and ensure our goal of efficient, reliable, accurate water billing service.