SAN DIEGO — CBS 8 is Working for You to get to the bottom of water billing problems in the City of San Diego.
It’s been four months since Mission Hills homeowner Ken Perilli received a notice in the mail that his water bills were being withheld, pending an investigation by the city of San Diego into "abnormal water use."
“The first reaction is to panic that you have a leak under a slab, and that you're going to be facing an expensive plumbing repair bill,” said Perilli. He called a plumber and checked for water leaks, but nothing seemed abnormal.
“I investigated the abnormal reading. And you can see that there is dirt in front of the meter. So, the abnormal reading is that there was no reading taken, I believe,” said Perilli.
On the social media site Next Door, Perilli said he found dozens of similar complaints by neighbors.
Patty Ducey-Brooks is a neighbor in Mission Hills who said, between March of 2023 and September of 2023, she did not receive a water bill.
Ducey-Brooks said her bill now amounts to more than $2,400, after a city investigation found problems with her water meter. She believes the city is trying to charge her too much, so she refused to pay.
“How do you charge somebody when you have no evidence that the water was even used?” Ducey-Brooks said.
CBS 8 has been reporting on water billing problems with the city for more than a year.
To its credit, the city is now notifying people when their water bills are being withheld. And, last month, the city's Public Utilities Department director, Juan Guerreiro, told CBS 8 he was working to reduce the number of withheld bills, which currently amount to more than 24,000 customers.
But some customers said they don’t trust the city.
“I don't believe that the underlying problem is 24,000 people with excessive water usage. I think that's being used as some kind of a shield to mask the real problem,” said Perilli.
The City of San Diego emailed CBS 8 the following statement:
"We are making consistent progress and the number of held bills has consistently decreased, meaning we’re billing more customers as scheduled, preventing bills from being held, and resolving more held bills than are being added. Currently, 98% of all bills are being sent to customers on time, meeting the industry standard. There will always be some bills that are held for a variety of reasons to make sure they are accurate before they are sent to customers. Contributing factors to having a bill held may include a manual water meter misread, a water leak on the property or legitimate changes in a customer’s water usage. Additionally, we're continuing to fill vacancies to focus on reducing the held bills. The Customer Support Division has hired three new associate management analysts to start in April and will add seven new customer services representatives by May. The City is also implementing additional IT improvements and automating additional billing processes. We are always willing to work with our customers. While it can seem overwhelming to receive more than one bill all at the same time, customers can pay off their balance over time with no penalty or interest charged. More information about withheld water bills is available on our website at: sandiego.gov/public-utilities/customer-service."
At CBS 8, we are always Working for You and our community. This is a station promise that we will go the extra mile to solve a problem our audience can’t solve themselves. We want to hear your ideas on how we can cover and help our community. If you have a story idea, please email us at workingforyou@cbs8.com.
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