NORFOLK, Va. — If you live in parts of Hampton Roads, you might have noticed you're paying a little more for water this month. While there were small changes to pricing recently, the city of Norfolk says there's a little bit more to a higher bill.
Chris Jones with the city of Norfolk says in July, the rate of water rose by 21 cents-per-cubic-foot. Wastewater fees also went up to 20 cents-per-cubic-foot. Storm water also saw an increase of 52 cents-per-month.
In summer, the city says homes will typically use more water for filling up the pools, washing cars and watering lawns. Another contributing factor to a more expensive bill was the short staffing of the city vendor that reads the water meter measurements.
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Jones says the lack of manpower resulted in many consumers receiving a bill for 45 to 47 days instead of a typical 28 to 32-day cycle bill.
"Typically, they (the vendor workers) would read it every 30 days or close to that, and then your bill would be reflective on what the changes were over that 30-day period. In this instance, with the staffing challenges this summer, we've seen a little bit longer time that they may not be able to get there every 30 days, maybe every 45 days or somewhere thereabouts," says Jones. "So, it's not really much different other than the overall amount, but it's a longer period of time you may be paying a month and a half worth of bills instead of paying a one-month bill."
Jones says the commonwealth along with the Hampton Roads Planning Commission has set up a program called the Virginia Low Income Housing Water Assistance Program. Qualifying Customers of Norfolk Utilities may receive financial assistance.
Since mid-November of last year, nearly 3,200 Norfolk water customers have collectively received almost $2.2 million in assistance through this program, which is still in effect today.
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"It's income specific," explained Jones. "It's not going to be available to everybody, but if there is someone on a lower income spectrum that is in need of assistance because the bill might have been more than they're accustomed to seeing on a monthly basis."
Jones says the city is working to improve manpower and says the plan is to return to the 30-day billing cycle by the end of November.
If someone has questions about their bill, they should call 757-664-6700, and staff can look into the matter directly with the consumer, or by emailing utwainq@norfolk.gov. Consumers can also inquire using the MyNorfolk app.
To learn more about the Virginia Low Income Housing Water Assistance Program, click the link, here.
