Town issues credits to customers overcharged on water/sewer bills

Water and sewer ratepayers may see a credit on their January bills after the town accidentally overcharged some users. 

Two separate errors affected nearly 700 customers in the November and December billing cycles. In addition to January credits, the town sent some customers corrected bills. 

“All affected customers have been made whole, or will be made whole,” Water and Sewer Superintendent Darin LaFalam said, and new safeguards should prevent future mistakes. 

“We apologize for the frustration this caused and remain committed to improving the integrity of our utility billing process,” he told The Acton Bridge in an email.

From May through October, residential customers pay higher water fees for usage above 1,200 cubic feet. 

Bills are supposed to switch to a flat rate for the winter. This year, that didn’t happen on time, and anyone who exceeded their base usage got overcharged. Those users are getting credits. 

The second error stemmed from a “system processing delay,” LaFalam said. The town charged some customers for two months of usage, rather than one. 

LaFalam said the town sent out corrected bills to fix this issue. He said some of the affected customers experienced only one of the errors. Some experienced both. 

LaFalam said officials discovered the mix-ups on December 17 “via internal review and customer inquiries.” Staff worked with their software provider and the Acton Municipal Light Plant — which handles water and sewer billing — to plan future checks.

While addressing recent issues, crews are also transitioning to new water meters. LaFalam said it will take up to two years to install roughly 5,600 meters. With the old meters, crews run three monthly driving routes to pick up readings. Staff manually import data into their billing software. With the new system, that won’t be necessary, and LaFalam said this will be a “great reduction in possibility for mistakes.”