Water charges

A water charge starts with a meter run. The run records the meter, the end of the billing period, the gallons consumed and the tariff revision used to price them, and it belongs to the accounting document the charge will appear on. The preparer submits the run with that evidence; an independent reviewer approves it, rejects it or returns it for correction. Only an approved run supports a charge.

Two rules protect customers from the most common billing disputes. First, the tariff revision is named on every run, so nobody has to guess which rate applied after a tariff change. Second, an estimate for a suspected leak is kept separate from validated consumption, so a customer is never billed for a leak estimate as if it had been metered.

The accounting preparer prepares and submits meter runs; the accounting reviewer decides them.

• Evidence or nothing. A run without the meter, period end, gallons and tariff revision is not accepted for review.
• Reviewed by someone else. The reviewer is a different person from the preparer, and their decision is recorded with the reason.
• Current revision only. A run submitted against an out-of-date version of its document is refused, so a charge always matches the document it lands on.

Agree how meter readings reach the preparer: imported from the meter reading system or entered from route books. Agree the tariff revisions in force and how a new revision is introduced mid-cycle. Decide who reviews runs, how quickly, and what counts as a reason to return one. Prepare examples of a normal monthly run, a run after a tariff change, a run with a leak estimate and a run returned for a missing reading.

A household’s consumption jumps to three times its usual level. The preparer submits the run with the metered gallons and notes a suspected leak, keeping the leak estimate separate. The reviewer checks the reading against the meter history, approves the metered consumption and returns the leak adjustment for the customer service team to handle under the utility’s leak policy. The customer’s bill reflects what the meter recorded, and any leak credit follows as its own reviewed document.

• Meter runs awaiting review — Submitted runs with meter, period, gallons and tariff revision.
• Meter run board — Runs by draft, submitted, approved, rejected and completed.

• Meter run to water charge: From a submitted run to an approved charge.

Plan integrations with your meter reading system.