Albany, Dougherty County utility customers frustrated by steep bill increases

ALBANY – Homeowners in Dougherty County say they are fed up with increased water bills and poor response from Albany’s Utilities Authority.

The issue stretches across the county with some residents experiencing the price hikes as long as about one year ago, when the city began rolling out a new meter system.

Suzanne Harper, a senior resident of the River Pointe Neighborhood, said she knew something was off when she received her water bill for October and it was $425.96. Her bill for the previous month had only been $56.60, a number consistent with previous months.

Harper began speaking with some of her neighbors who were also seeing steep bill increases for the month of October. Harper said the majority of homeowners in her neighborhood are retired and on a fixed income.

“You budget for each month,” she said. “When you’re retired, your income hits a plateau. You don’t have all this free money.”

The city sent out a notice on Nov. 7, about a hardware failure as the city switches to a new metering system. The new system, Advanced Metering Infrastructure, renders the outdated MVR device obsolete. However, the switch to the new system would cause some Albany utilities customers to receive estimated readings on their bills.

The notice also said some of these bills will encompass 35 days instead of the normal 30-day billing period. Estimated readings can lead to a true-up once the next reading is available.

“In short, the situation is unfortunate, but we are doing everything we can to get it right for the customers,” the notice read.

Charles Gunter and Chris Norman, also residents of River Pointe, saw jumps in their bills of more than $100 while still on the old meter system.

Gunter said he raised concern with the city but saw no relief for his high bill. He told Utilities Department staff that he would not be paying the high bill.

However, Gunter said the first red flag in his water billing was raised in June when he didn’t receive a bill. Come July, his bill was $215.44, and he was told this was due to the skipped month. It happened again in August, followed by normal bills for September and October and then a sharp increase in November.

Gunter said he believes the city isn’t being transparent about what’s causing this issue. He accused the authority of making up water meter readings. He hasn’t received a new meter.

When Norman raised concerns to the Utilities Authority, he received a new meter as well as $300 taken off his bill. Harper said she doesn’t understand why some people received bill relief while others didn’t.

Terry Stark, another retired resident in River Pointe, said his issues began after the installment of the new meter. His bill jumped from about $30 to about $230.

Stark and his wife began calling the Utilities Authority, but Stark said they were getting “the runaround.” He didn’t get help until repeatedly visiting their office in-person.

“The next thing you know, our bill was back down to normal,” he said.

Stark said he was told the switch to the new meters caused “ghost readings” until the system got “caught up.”

Ultimately, the neighbors are frustrated over the bill increase and unclear communication from the city.

Officials at the Utilities Authority declined to comment on the issue, stating that these residents must be having unique issues. They did ask for the names and contacts of people experiencing issues so that they could address the problem.

Dougherty County’s District 3 Commissioner Clinton Johnson said he hadn’t been made aware of the issue but asked to be connected with his constituents who were experiencing a problem so that he could help find solutions.

River Pointe residents aren’t the only ones having issues with their water bills.

Albany Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard said he’s received multiple complaints from residents in his ward about high water bills, both this month and last. Howard said complainants expressed that the new water meters were installed much lower in the ground. Residents said they were concerned that rain caused a false reading.

Howard said he contacted Utilities Authority officials, who sent staff out to fix the problem. One resident had a water bill higher than $1,000. Howard said he was able to reach the Utilities Authority and this resident was able to get a rebate.

Homeowners in east Albany’s Sylvandale region saw bills spike after their new water meters were installed about one year ago.

The president of the Sylvandale Neighborhood Watch said most of the homeowners in this area are seniors. He said expensive bills make it difficult for retired people to live comfortably. Homeowners in the city tend to be hit the worst by bill increases, he said.

The Nov. 7 notice told utilities customers to call (229) 883-8330 with questions.

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