Atlanta panel backs water-bill spike credits with cutoff tied to new metering system

Atlanta’s City Utilities Committee unanimously recommended a new route to credits for erroneous water-usage spikes Oct. 13, but added a limit: the remedy would expire when the city fully adopts its advanced metering system.⁠[1][2]

Five members supported substitute ordinance 26-O-1545, according to the committee’s draft minutes. The packet lists full Council consideration as pending Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. The recommendation is not enactment and does not make the proposed credits available to customers.⁠[1]

The ordinance says the Water and Sewer Appeals Board has sometimes found evidence of city error but lacked authority to grant relief. Its proposed solution is not a blanket credit for every unexplained high bill: the board would have to conclude that a spike resulted from departmental recording error rather than actual consumption.⁠[1]

The substitute retains the earlier proposal’s customer-evidence requirements. A leak-detection specialist or licensed plumber would have to inspect the property within 30 days of the bill’s payment due date and find no leaks. Customers would also need evidence of consistent usage for the preceding 12 months and the following three months. The disputed spike would have to cover one month, exceed three times the prior 12-month average and fall outside a seasonal or annual pattern such as summer irrigation.⁠[1][2]

One eligibility detail still needs clarification. The consistency clauses say no billing period may have a “greater deviation than one hundred fifty percent (150%)” from the prior average, but the substitute does not explain how that deviation would be calculated.⁠[1]

The standard credit would cover the difference between recorded usage and 150% of normal usage—not necessarily all consumption recorded above the normal level. The commissioner could use an alternative calculation when that comparison is not possible or representative. Credits would be limited to one billing period in each rolling 18-month period.⁠[1]

The new expiration provision rests on the city’s move toward Advanced Metering Infrastructure, or AMI. The legislation defines it as a two-way system that records consumption hourly or more often and transmits measurements daily or more often. It predicts that the technology will provide leak and tampering alerts, reduce water losses and eliminate billing disputes. The ordinance offers no evidence demonstrating that last prediction.⁠[1]

The cutoff is tied to implementation, not a fixed date. The substitute provides neither a calendar deadline nor a detailed test for “full adoption.” For customers, that leaves two distinct questions: whether they could prove an eligible recording error, and how long this proposed route to relief would remain available.⁠[1]