City’s Billing Cycle Drives Past-Due Crisis
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Water Valley Electric Commission Chairman Brandon Presley shared details about the billing cycle.
WATER VALLEY — More than 65 percent of Water Valley utility customers were past due on their bills as of the Jan. 6 meeting of the Water Valley Board of Aldermen, prompting Water Valley Electric Commission Chairman Brandon Presley to call for an overhaul of the city’s long-standing billing cycle.
Presley reported that 1,374 of the city’s approximately 2,100 utility customers were past due at the time of the meeting, about a week before the scheduled cut-off date — a rate he described as “unheard of” in the public utility industry.
Presley said the large percentage of past due bills a week before the cutoff date is clear evidence that the billing cycle is flawed and unfair to customers.
The problem, Presley said, stems from the timing of when utility bills are sent, when late fees are assessed and when service shutoffs occur — a system inherited by current leadership and now under review.
Under the current structure, utility bills, which include electricity, water, sewer and garbage service, are rendered around the 13th of each month. Bills are considered past due on the 3rd of the following month, and service disconnections typically occur around the 13th, placing customers in a constant mid-month payment cycle. As of Tuesday morning, January’s cut-off date, 267 customers had still not paid and shut-offs were set to begin Wednesday, Jan. 14.
“This is an awful way for a public utility to bill customers,” Presley said told aldermen, noting the timing often hits working families and small businesses after paychecks have already been spent on other monthly obligations.
“What the metrics tell us is our billing cycle is completely anti-customer,” he added. “This is nobody’s fault. We inherited it. But it has to be fixed.”
Presley proposed adjusting the billing cycle, potentially as soon as March, depending on coordination between the city’s water department and electric system.
The proposed change would shift billing to the beginning of the month, with the goal of rendering bills on the last day of the month, allowing them to reach customers around the first or second. Bills would then be due on either the 10th or 15th of the month, with late fees assessed after that date.
The change will require close coordination with the water department, as water meters are read manually, a process that takes approximately two weeks. The water meter readings are then keyed into billing software by the electric department. Presley noted electric meters can be read automatically in minutes, and transition depends heavily on adjusting the timing of water meter readings so both systems remain synchronized.
Presley also told aldermen the Electric Commission plans to eliminate extension fees for electric customers and urged the city to do the same for water services. Currently, customers who request extensions are charged $10 for water and $10 for electricity, a policy Presley described as excessive and unfair
“We charge people who are already in financial distress ten dollars just to get a few extra days,” Presley said. “That is egregious. I have never heard of a utility charging for an extension.”
Presley acknowledged eliminating the fees collected for granting extension would reduce revenue but said the change is necessary.
“Morally, we know it is the right thing to do,” he said.
Presley told city officials correcting the billing cycle should ultimately improve cash flow for the utilities, even if it results in a short-term revenue adjustment.
“No utility in this country wants 65 percent of its customers past due,” he said. “That is just not sustainable.”
Presley also said the figures show the need for better promotion of bank draft and electronic payment options, noting many customers are unaware those services are available.
“That tells me we haven’t done as good a job promoting bank draft as we should,” he said, adding the Electric Commission plans a major outreach effort in 2026.
As part of the process, Presley said electric officials will consult with the Tennessee Valley Authority to ensure the revised billing cycle aligns with best practices, particularly for large industrial customers.
Mayor Tommy Reynolds agreed that coordination between the departments is essential.
“I really think everything needs to be synchronized,” Reynolds agreed.
No formal action was taken during the city meeting following Presley’s presentation, but additional meetings are expected to finalize details on changing the billing cycle.
Other information in Presley’s monthly report to aldermen included:
• Presley reported the Electric Commission unanimously selected Jim McClure as its new general manager, calling the hire a major step forward for the city’s electric system. McClure brings 36 years of utility experience, having started his career as a lineman before working his way into management. Presley said the commission is fortunate to secure someone with both field and administrative experience. McClure began working part-time on Jan. 6 and is scheduled to transition to full-time on March 1.
• Presley said the long-running TVIfiber project is now complete, with the final two invoices paid during the past week. With the fiber work finished, Presley said the commission can now fully focus its attention and resources on electric system infrastructure needs that had been delayed while the fiber project was underway.
• Presley told aldermen the commission met on Jan. 12 with Pole Inspection Services to begin moving forward on a comprehensive pole inspection program that includes treating each pole to prolong the life.
The city is believed to have approximately 2,400 utility poles, though Presley said no accurate, verified count currently exists. The inspection program will provide that clarity. The scope of work will include physically inspecting each pole, GIS-mapping them with latitude and longitude coordinates, and tagging each pole with an identifying number. Presley said the tagging system will allow customers to more easily report issues, such as streetlights being out, by referencing a specific pole number. The project will also include installing yellow guide wires to improve visibility and safety.
• Presley said the city has already spent approximately $250,000 replacing 45 utility poles, underscoring the scale and expense of the work ahead. Engineering firm Atwell & Gent estimates that an additional 240 poles may need to be replaced throughout the system.
Presley cautioned aldermen that the work will be very costly, but said pole treatment methods may help extend the lifespan of some existing poles and reduce long-term replacement costs.
• Presley referenced a Dec. 18 outage that left parts of the city without electricity for one hour and 33 minutes, calling it the first major outage since the Electric Commission was created on Aug. 1. He said the outage served as an early test of the new Hometown Grid system.
According to Presley, the Hometown Grid system alerted linemen several minutes before customer phone calls began coming in, allowing crews to respond more quickly. He said a similar outage in the past would have taken significantly longer to resolve. Presley said the technology is already improving outage response times and situational awareness.
