Members of Houston City Council discussed nine ordinance changes related to water bill relief at a Dec. 6 meeting, but the council won't vote on the changes at least until its Dec. 13 meeting after the item was tagged, moving the vote back by one week.

What's happening

According to a Dec. 4 news conference and discussion at the Dec. 6 City Council meeting, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city and public works department has been working together for months to craft the ordinance changes to address resident complaints regarding inaccurate bills.

Potential changes to the ordinance will include:
  • Removing the two-times-per-year allowance for leak adjustments and allowing customers additional relief should multiple leaks occur in one year more than twice
  • Incentivizing citizens by offering 100% relief for customers repairing a water leak within 30 days after a leak began, 75% for repairs within 60 days and 50% after 60 days
  • Reducing the leak balance remaining amount from $2,000 to $1,000 for senior citizens and $250 to $100 for low-income households
  • Giving 100% credit on excess wastewater charges
  • Lowering the customer responsibility percentage from 150% to 125% of the monthly average water usage
  • Providing a 50-cent discount for each bill for paperless customers
  • Not back billing greater than three months for residential customers
  • Offering a customer an option to have a meter locked for a one-time fee
Changes to the ordinance under the Exceptional Circumstances Adjustment section include:
  • Changing any billed amount in excess of fives times the average monthly bill to two times the average monthly bill
  • Changing the cost for a one-time occurrence from $4,000 to up to $10,000
  • Changing the language from a two-month timeframe to two billing cycles
What it means

According to the council agenda, while more than 99% of the more than 50,000 monthly bills are correct, the less than 1% that encounter problems have become untenable for those customers.
  • In 2019, the public works department was dealing with about 40,000 failing devices.
  • As of 2023, the department is dealing with more than 125,000 failing remote devices.
  • The remote reading devices have an expected life span of 10-15 years.
  • The city has approximately 550,000 total water accounts.
Carol Haddock, director of Houston Public Works, said the proposed changes will help address approximately 90% of residents complaints on water bills.


"We value our customers and the city of Houston immensely," she said. "We are working hard to address the concerns that have been raised on high water bills while staying within the boundaries that have been set for us by past city councils through ordinances that were based on different scenarios."

Next steps

Council member Michael Kubosh tagged the agenda item during the Dec. 6 City Council meeting, which moves the vote to Dec. 13, citing the need for more time to review the changes.

Haddock said the changes are expected to take effect immediately upon a vote.