NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans residents know all too well the anxiety that comes when dealing with the Sewerage and Water Board. State representatives are trying to ease that burden. During this year's legislative session, multiple bills are moving through the capitol that deal with the utility. Many of them are focused on lightening the load from your wallet.
Representative Matthew Willard's bill would require the utility to only charge for services provided not estimated services. He's hoping the automated meters, which are expected to be installed throughout the city over the next year, will help.
"I’m certainly happy we’re moving towards smart meters I wish we would’ve done it ten years ago," he said during a committee meeting Friday.
A bill authored by Representative Stephanie Hilferty aims to normalize payments. Residents would be able to opt into fixed bills, which would be based on an average of their past payments. Plus, it would make it easier to appeal a high charge by setting up arbiters in easy-to-access areas in their council districts.
"We’ll send a letter to all the residential repayors saying this will be the average of these reads and if you want you can opt into fixed billing. That’s purely the residents' discretion," Hilferty said. "We want to eliminate the random spikes many of us have experienced the random spike bill many of us know to what our average bill should look like."
Friday, the City Council announced their support for Hilferty's bill.
“Not a day goes by when our office doesn't receive a complaint about an erroneous bill from Sewerage and Water Board,” said Council Vice President JP Morrell in a statement. “Billing is easily the #1 problem that plagues the Sewerage & Water Board. This Council has passed ordinances that would address the billing mess created by S&WB, but they refuse to comply with the law or communicate their challenges. Rep. Hilferty's bill for a third-party billing administrator will force S&WB into compliance whether they like it or not as well as rebuilding public trust that the government takes solving this billing issue seriously.”
Another bill by Representative Alonzo Knox would create a panel to run the sewerage and water board for one year. While Council members have criticized it, he says it's not a full state takeover.
"There is no complete state takeover," Knox said. "My bill is a placeholder bill it’s a skeleton bill in the place that none of those bills get through."
Representatives say they're working hard to get the bills passed, as they say, the quality of life for New Orleans residents has suffered because of S&WB for far too long.
"It’s overly burdensome," Hilferty said. "It’s not a fair system right now we are trying to bring certainty to the system...automated meters will help with that but until that day we can not wait that long. It's not fair to the residents of New Orleans.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.