It has been discussed for years, and starting in January Greater Cincinnati Water Works customers will get their bills monthly instead of quarterly.
Water Works Director Cathy Bailey said elected officials and customers have been asking for the change for years.
"Many other bills are already on a monthly format," Bailey said. "And so this actually helps them better. We have a number of customers on a regular basis that told us that quarterly bill just continues to be a surprise. We just wanted to help our customers really budget better."
But making the switch from quarterly to monthly billing was not an easy task for the water works.
A new billing system was installed in August 2016, and for a year staff has been working on behind the scenes calculations needed to make the change.
"We have over a 130 different rate combinations," Bailey said. "And so we had to test each one of those. So it's not as easy as flipping a switch."
In January, customers will receive a bill that includes both quarterly and monthly rates. The water works is calling this a catch-up bill.
For example, customers who received their last quarterly bill on October 16, will receive a bill on January 8, which includes 77 days billed at the quarterly rate and 7 days at the monthly rate. For customers who received a bill on December 12, that bill would include 20 days at the quarterly rate and 25 days on the monthly rate when they get a bill on January 26.
In February, the first true monthly bills for all customers will arrive.
The water works will have additional staff on the customer service lines for the next three months anticipating questions from customers about the change from quarterly to monthly billing.
You find additional information on the Greater Cincinnati Water Works website.
