There are more than 83,000 customers in households across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland who are late on their water bills, and WSSC Water says it will soon start shutting off overdue accounts.
The announcement comes at the same time WSSC Water says it will extend its late-bill amnesty program by another month, running through the end of July.
The “Get Current” program provides bill credits to customers with delinquent balances and waives late fees and turn-on fees.
WSSC has been promoting the amnesty program throughout June and temporarily paused water shut-offs to encourage people to sign up for the program. However, beginning July 5, WSSC will once again take steps to start shutting off past due accounts.
So far, WSSC Water says nearly 700 customers have signed up to take advantage of the program.
“We want to do everything possible to keep our safe, clean water flowing into each home and business in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties,” said WSSC Water General Manager and CEO Kishia L. Powell in a June 26 news release. “However, we must stem the loss of revenue. We have a public health duty to ensure we recover funds to invest in, and improve, our critical infrastructure.”
WSSC says the total amount of the past-due accounts is almost $53 million and that the “vast majority” of past due accounts are for residential customers.
The utility says it only shuts off water service after “extensive customer notification and all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted.” Aside from the amnesty program, WSSC Water offers several financial assistance programs.
The amnesty program offers customers with household incomes below 150% of the median area income ($149,000 for a single-person household) a 10% credit on their bill if they pay it in full and a 5% bill credit if they pay at least half and complete a payment plan.
Customers with incomes above the median are eligible to have late payment charges and turn-off fees waived.
There are about 1.9 million WSSC Water customers in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
