DENHAM SPRINGS — Earlier this month, Ward 2 customers reached out to UWK about receiving charges on their Ward 2 water bills around $2,000 when they previously paid much lower amounts.
On Friday, Feb. 14th, Ward 2 posted a letter written to customers addressing smart meter readers, called the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meter changeout program. The water district said that the program is steadily progressing as meters are changed out to smart meters.
With the changeout happening, the letter aims to address the “many issues” that have come to the district’s attention. In the letter, Ward 2 writes:
“Ward Two Water District has recently implemented billing for 12-month averages as we
see this is the only way to be fair to all customers. However, by billing a 12-month average, if
the meter has been under-read in the past, the account will continue to be under-billed until the
meter has been changed and connected to the AMI satellite system.”
The letter adds that if customers are over-charged with this 12-month average that they will receive a credit for the over-charged amount. If a customer receives a high bill due to being under-charged in the past, Ward 2 will allow payment arrangements. In addition, Ward 2 will also reconstruct any large water readings by moving the bulk of the usage to the cheaper water rates prior to July 1, 2024, it said.
“We are diligently working to verify meter readings and to conduct thorough
investigations due to errors in meter readings made in the past. If our investigations result with no errors made by Ward Two Water District or contractor, we cannot forgive any water usage reflected on the meter per the Louisiana Constitution Article VII, §14. Donation, Loan, or Pledge of Public Credit, Section 14. (A) Prohibited Uses, “Except as otherwise provided by this constitution, the funds, credit, property, or things of value of the state or of any political subdivision shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private.”
In reference to sewage costs, Ward 2 said that multiple sewer companies are used within Ward 2’s service area, and sewer rates are determined by the sewer company and are based upon water usage.
Ward 2 Water District will hold its monthly meeting tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 18) at 7 p.m. The meeting is held at the Ward 2 Water District Administrative Building located at 30772 Carter Drive in Denham Springs.
Some Livingston Parish residents are reporting seeing high Ward 2 water bills and are frustrated that they do not understand what’s happening.
One woman who reached out to UWK says that she doesn’t understand why her water bill has been so high. She says it’s reached over $2,000.
“We have not had a water leak. We have not left our water on by accident or intentionally. We have barely watered our yard in the summertime,” she told UWK. “We don’t even have a swimming pool.”
Her bills have normally run about $60, but late last year, she began to notice the bills creeping up to nearly $100. Eventually, her monthly bill was around $2,500.
She says she is “flabbergasted” at the costs and spoke to the company about the high bills.
She said she spoke to the company on Feb. 5 and a representative was able to “help her out all they can” and get the bill down to $900.
After reaching out to a parish councilman, she was able to reach back out to Ward 2 and get her bill lowered to around $60 on Thursday, Feb. 6, she told UWK.
Mother and daughter with high water bills
Another resident said she has had past experiences with her bills soaring for no known reason, and that her mom has also recently had an experience with Ward 2 bills. The woman, who asked not to be identified, said that after a two-week vacation over the summer, her family came home to a bill higher than $2,000.
The bill from the previous month was $30.12.
She saw some crews working near her water line and called to ask why her bill was high. The company told her that there had been a leak and the crews were working on it.
The woman said no one had notified her of a leak and they didn’t see evidence of one in their yard. So her family contacted a plumber, who also said he did not find any leaks.
The company ended up telling her that she needed to bring out a leak detection company to check whether her swimming pool had any leaks. If she had the leak detection company come out and certify there was no leak, she could get a discount on the bill.
“They would discount it – not take my high bill away – they would give me a discount on the thing,” she said.
She was then told that she would need to pay the bill or risk cutting her water off, and was offered the option of a six-month payment plan or paying the entire thing outright.
“I ended up just paying them,” she said.
Her family kept checking the water meter to see if the readings were jumping up, but nothing looked abnormal. She said her bills since then have gone back to a normal range.
Her mom, though, had a $2,000 water bill just a few months ago. She said that the company ended up taking approximately $1,000 off her mom’s bill without needing a leak detection company to come out.
When her mom first saw the bill and questioned why it was so high, she was told that the meters weren’t actively being read for months, so when the meters were replaced, “that’s what I owed them.” She was able to set up a payment plan in addition to the bill being cut in half.
Before the jump in billing, the mom said she always paid her bill on time so seeing the sudden high charges caught her eye.
The woman said she doesn’t understand how this works, and that for the average consumer, these charges can be hard to interpret.
“We’re not plumbers,” she said.
According to the Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce, Ward 2 Water District provides water to those in Watson, Port Vincent, and outside of Denham Springs and Walker city limits.
UWK reached out to Ward 2 Water for comment, but did not hear back from the utility provider before publication.
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2 Responses
I live in “The Sanctuary” subdivision off Florida blvd near Juban and the EXACT thing happened to me the early part of last year with ward 2 water! I also had a $2000.00 water bill and was told we went an entire year paying around $55/mo (never skipped a bill) but was told the meter did not read, showing zero water consumption for over a year which was difficult to understand. We never had a water leak or any issues with plumbing and we built our home just 5 years ago. Didn’t really understand the logistics behind the billing but didn’t have a choice in the matter to go without water services so I set up a payment plan and as of 02/01/25, now down to about a $500.00 remaining balance in addition to my routine water bill still around $55/mo. I know this is insane for any household experiencing this issue and when I saw others had similar issues, I had to share my story so a detailed investigation into this on behalf of the homeowners effected by the company’s mishandling of financial billing.
Wasn’t there a class action suit against them years ago to the water? They refused to return our deposit when we moved out the area.