Utility Billing Update: Clarification on Billing Cycle Adjustment

The City of Buena Vista would like to provide additional clarification regarding the upcoming transition to a 45-day billing cycle for the November and December utility bills. This adjustment follows the City’s 45-day grace period, during which water service disconnections were temporarily paused in response to billing concerns raised by residents in August.

During this grace period, the City took additional steps to review meter readings and billing information, investigate customer concerns, and identify potential issues within the utility billing process.

In response, staff began manually reading water meters individually and manually entering billing information to ensure greater accuracy and allow for a more thorough review of customer usage. Staff also worked to address individual customer inquiries as they were received.

These efforts helped the City identify an underlying issue involving the City’s financial system, RDA, and the communication between the City’s meter-reading system and its financial system. This discovery has helped provide a better understanding of the issues affecting utility billing and has informed the City’s efforts to address them.

The November and December billing periods will each include approximately 45 days of water usage. These extended billing periods are a result of the additional time required to manually read meters individually and process billing information during this period. The January bill will reflect 30 days as the city has identified the root cause of meter reading and billing issues.  

The City recognizes the concerns residents have raised and appreciates their patience as staff works to improve the accuracy and reliability of utility billing. These efforts are part of the City’s ongoing commitment to addressing customer concerns and improving the billing process.