City Moves to Monthly Water Meter Readings

From City of Tampa Online:

The City of Tampa Water Department is continuing customer service improvements by transitioning to monthly water meter reading. By October, all customers are expected to be on a monthly meter reading schedule.

"Tampa's water customers need to know that their meter readings are timely and accurate. We have taken a number of steps since April to ensure both, and this is one more," said Mayor Bob Buckhorn. "This transition was long overdue."

A schedule for the transitioning cycles is available online at www.TampaGov.net/MyBillingCycle.

Each month, two additional meter reading cycles will be converted, until all 21 billing cycles are modified to a monthly meter reading schedule. Customers will receive an insert in their City of Tampa Utilities bill explaining the change when they are started on monthly readings. The first conversion will occur this month, and those customers affected are scheduled to be billed on Jan. 20.

Some of the advantages to reading water meters monthly are:

• Customers will receive bills that reflect actual usage each month. The practice of estimating water consumption every other month will no longer be used.

• A timelier accounting of water use will allow customers to make usage adjustments to avoid higher water bills.

• The ability to discover and promptly repair service line, plumbing or irrigation system leaks sooner, to reduce the impact of high water bills caused by leaks.

• Improved consumer confidence.

In 2011, a multi-departmental Water Task Force concluded that implementing monthly meter reading will mitigate several of the factors contributing to high bills. Last November, Tampa City Council approved a contract to provide services to enable a system-wide implementation of monthly readings.

More information on how water services are charged and billed by the City of Tampa is available online at the City of Tampa Utilities. The Water Task Force Report is also available online.

For more information, call Brad Baird, Director of the Water Department, at (813) 274-8663 or email him at Brad.Baird@TampaGov.net.