STERLING HEIGHTS WATER & SEWER BILLING FACTS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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1 STERLING HEIGHTS WATER & SEWER BILLING FACTS 1.) The City of Detroit is now using computerized meter data to record Sterling Heights actual maximum day and peak hour usage factors. These maximum and peak hour usage factors have resulted in increased costs to us as our use patterns have changed since the 1980s. We are promoting ways to lessen our maximum and peak hour usage factors from Detroit in order to lower future Detroit rate increases to us. 2.) A 25% discount, up to $26.00, is applied to all summer water consumption. The maximum discount was raised from $25 to $26 in Most cities do not offer a summer consumption discount. 3.) New users of the system pay for all water and sewer line additions. Therefore, Sterling Heights rates do not contain any amount for expansion of the system. 4.) Nearly 90% of the water and sewer system is complete and paid for. As a result, there is no outstanding water or sewer debt. 5.) Nearly 80% of the city s water & sewer budget is for payments to the city of Detroit for water and sewer services. Sterling Heights has one of the lowest markups on Detroit s water rate of any community. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q. Where can I get information on the water consumption history for my account? A. The city is now offering an online service where customers can view their account history on the Web. A consumption history graph for the last twelve bills can be viewed. Customers should go to the city Web site at then access the e-pay prompt Water Bill Review & Payments. At the Utility Account Inquiry screen, the customer will type in their service street address and utility account number. On the next series of screens click on the following links as they appear in the following order: manage bills; services and consumption; view consumption. Q. If I pay my water bill online with my credit card, are there any additional credit card processing fees that I have to pay? A. Customers paying water bills online do not have to pay any processing fee for the transaction. The credit card processing costs are absorbed by the city for water bills. Q. I tried to make a payment online, but was denied access to the payment screen. What should I do now? A. There are a number of things that could have prevented a customer from making a payment. They are listed in order of most common occurrence as follows:

2 1.) Failure to have an updated browser. Customers who have very old browsers are unable to utilize the pay online service. Using a newer version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or equivalent will solve that problem. 2.) Having an updated browser but not having the browser settings for the SSL protocol. The SSL protocol setting is needed to access the pay online service. 3.) Encountering a corporate firewall. Many customers try to pay online during the day from their work location during lunch time for example. The entity that they work for may have a corporate firewall setting that prevents them from making any payments online. 4.) Pop-Up blocking software that you are running is preventing the opening of the additional window necessary to link to the external website. You may be able to disable the Pop-Up blocker through a setting within your browser s own options menu. Q. I m selling my house and have been told that I need to get a final water bill. How do I go about this? A. First, the resident needs to determine when they are supposed to pay their bill through: either through the date of closing or when they turn the keys over, as listed in the purchase agreement of the house. Immediately prior to that date, the resident should read the six-digit number off the water meter (usually the meter is located in the basement of the house). Phone in the reading to water billing ( ), who will provide a bill which can be picked-up and paid the next day or faxed to the title company /realtor handling the sale. Q. My water bill is much higher than normal. Why? A. A majority of high water bills are due to toilets that are leaking. Toilet leaks are many times inaudible. Other things to check for are leaks in sprinkler systems, sump pumps that have water back-up systems, and dripping faucets. It is important to determine and correct the problem, because wasted water results in high bills. One way to check if you have a problem is to write down the six-digit number off the water meter (usually located in the basement of the house) before you go to bed at night. The following morning, go to the water meter and compare the readings. If the meter has moved while you were sleeping, that indicates something is using water. A more immediate check involves the red dial on the water meter. When the dial is spinning, water is going through the meter. The red dial should be still when there is no water usage. Q. I live next door to a house with the same number of people and that waters their lawn as much as I do. How come my bill is higher? A. Over a three-month billing period, it is impossible to expect your water bill to be identical to your neighbor s. Simply put, peoples habits on water usage are different. Your neighbor may set the timer on their sprinkler system to water ten minutes less a day than you. They may have low-flow toilets in their house, which use 1.8 gallons of water per flush compared to your 3.6 gallon toilet. The water meter in your home is the actual gauge of how much water is used in the home.

3 Q. Where is my water meter? Isn t that plastic box on the outside of my house it? A. Your actual water meter is usually located in the basement. The plastic box on the outside of the house is a remote reader. This remote reader is wired to the meter in the basement. Quarterly, DPW gets meter readings via the remote, which is how we can accurately bill and is the reason why meter readers don t knock on your door every three months asking to come inside to read your water meter. Q. My consumption is high, could the meter be running fast or was there an error in the reading? A. Water meters are specifically engineered to prevent accelerated readings. In fact, as they wear out they will register zero consumption which then alerts the DPW crews to contact the customer and inspect the meter for potential replacement. To date there has never been an over billing due to an accelerated meter read. Since the meter readings are obtained from the remote reader located outside the house, the potential for a misread exists if there is a problem with the hard wiring to the water meter in the basement or with the remote reading devices. Misreads occur on an extremely rare basis. The letter A following the Current Read on your bill indicates an actual read. To verify the reading shown on your bill, compare it to the reading on your water meter in the basement. The reading that you take (first 4 digits reading left to right) should be greater than the Current Read from the bill. If you subtract the bill s Current Read amount from the reading you took, it will measure the amount of water consumed since the end date of the Service Period also shown on the bill. Q. What happens if I don t pay my water bill? Will my water be shut off? A. The city of Sterling Heights will not shut water off for non-payment. If a current bill is not paid by the due date, a one-time late fee of 6% of the charges is added to the account. Any bills that become 179 days past due are removed from the water account and put on the property taxes with an additional 17% penalty assessed for this action. Q. What are the most significant ways to eliminate excessive water consumption? A. The two most important areas for customers to analyze are lawn/landscape irrigation practices and the home maintenance routines, which are aimed at preventing toilet and faucet leaks. Tips for efficient lawn and landscape irrigation are as follows: To minimize evaporation, water lawns between midnight and 5:00 AM during the hottest summer months. Utilize sprinkler rain shutoff devices to avoid unnecessary watering. Review sprinkler manufacturer specifications for gallons per minute usage in order to establish irrigation guidelines within your household budget for water consumption. Irrigate lawns for a maximum of 20 minutes per zone every other day during drought periods and much less for landscape beds. Frequent over watering can actually be detrimental to your lawn and landscapes. Be observant for breaks in underground lines or sprinkler heads that may contribute to a system leak.

4 Mow your grass at a height of approximately three inches or higher and use a mulching blade so that the clippings act as a natural fertilizer and also hold in moisture. Use a larger part of your yard for landscape beds as opposed to lawn area. Landscape beds require far less irrigation than lawns. Use plenty of mulch in your landscape beds to hold in moisture and plant deep-rooted flowers and shrubs that are more drought resistant. Follow the voluntary odd-even date watering system. Residents with odd numbered addresses are asked to water outdoors only on the odd numbered calendar dates, while homeowners with even numbered addresses should limit outdoor water use to even numbered calendar dates. Use the last number in your address to determine if you have an even or odd numbered address. Water during the non-peak hours of midnight through 5:00 AM. Home maintenance ideas include: Periodically inspect the flush valve and overflow valve in all the toilets. A test is done by placing a few drops of food coloring into the tank and waiting approximately 25 minutes, without flushing the toilet. If you see the food coloring seep into the bowl, a toilet leak is confirmed. Sometimes a shimmer on the surface of the toilet bowl water will be evident and is another way to confirm that there is a leak. The flush valve or flapper located in the bottom of the toilet tank will eventually wear out and require replacement. Upon replacing the flapper, be sure to have it properly seat against the contact at the bottom of the tank. Check the overflow valve for the correct water level in the tank by removing the tank lid and verifying that the water level is approximately one inch below the overflow valve. Always make sure that the water in the tank is not running into the overflow tube. Normally, the arm of the ball float can be adjusted in order to bring the water level to the desired height. Check the positioning of the refill tube in relation to the overflow tube to ensure that there is no siphoning effect when the tank is refilling. During remodeling or toilet replacement consider the use of 1.8-gallon low flow toilets, which use approximately half the water per flush compared to the conventional types. Install aerators on water faucets and showerheads. Purchase water efficient washing machines and dishwashers and operate with only full loads. Routinely inspect water back-up sump pumps and repair dripping faucets. Inspect the furnace humidifier overflow valve for excessive water flow (if equipped). IMPORTANT NOTICE PAYMENT OPTIONS TO ENSURE THE MOST EFFICIENT PROCESSING OF YOUR BILL PAYMENTS WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO ENROLL THROUGH THE DIRECT DEBIT OPTION, PAY THROUGH THE MAIL USING THE COUPON AND ENVELOPE PROVIDED OR USE THE PAY ON-LINE OPTION DIRECTLY ON THE CITY WEBSITE. MAILING PAYMENT WITHOUT THE COUPON OR USING AN ON-LINE BANKING SERVICE MAY RESULT IN A DELAY IN PAYMENT PROCESSING AND/OR LATE FEE ASSESSMENT.

5 ON-LINE BANKING PAYMENTS MADE BY UTILITY BILLING CUSTOMERS VIA THEIR OWN BANKS WEBSITE WILL BE ACCEPTED ON A CONDITIONAL BASIS FOR NON-DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS. EITHER THE BILL NUMBER OR UB ACCOUNT NUMBER MUST BE PROVIDED. ON-LINE BANKING PAYMENTS MADE BY CUSTOMERS VIA THEIR OWN BANKS WEBSITE VARY IN ACCURACY AND THE CITY HAS NO CONTROL OVER THE DATA TRANSMITTED; THEREFORE A SERIES OF DATA FILTERS MUST BE USED TO ENSURE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF PRECISION IN PROCESSING THE FILES. AS A RESULT REJECTIONS MAY OCCUR FOR PAYMENTS FAILING TO FALL WITHIN CERTAIN EXPECTED PAYMENT PARAMETERS, WHICH MAY RESULT IN THE APPLICATION OF A LATE FEE ASSESSMENT. THE MAILING ADDRESS FOR WATER BILL PAYMENTS IS AS FOLLOWS: DEPARTMENT CITY OF STERLING HEIGHTS WATER PO BOX DETROIT, MI WATER AND SEWER RATES The rates to be charged for water and sewage disposal services to be as follows for all bills rendered on or after July 1, 2017 Consumption Charges Per Billing Period WATER RATES Tiered Rate Per Thousand Cubic Ft. First 3,000 cubic feet or less... $25.28 All over 3,000 cubic feet Fixed GLWA Fee (water-single family residential customers) $5.00 Fixed GLWA Fee (water all other customers) $7.00 Meter Charges Per Billing Period 1 ½... $ SEWER RATES This charge shall be based on the amount of water used per billing period: Rate Per Thousand Cubic Ft. Per 1,000 cubic feet... $46.51 Fixed Macomb County Fee (sewer single-family residential) $6.25 Fixed Macomb County Fee (sewer all other customers) $9.00

6 BILLING Bills for water and sewer service shall be rendered periodically as set forth in this article. The billing period for single-family residential customers is quarterly, all other customers are billed monthly. All bills shall be due and payable twenty (20) days from the date thereon. A penalty of six percent (6%) of the amount of the unpaid portion of each current bill shall be added to each bill not paid on or before the due date. An additional penalty of seventeen percent (17%) of the total of the unpaid balance and the six percent (6%) penalty shall be added at the time the delinquent bill is entered upon the tax roll, pursuant to section 35-6 (a) of the Sterling Heights City Code. The City shall establish a minimum bill, which shall be based on a minimum of 900 cubic feet of water usage per billing cycle. There will be a $85.00 charge per bill for sewer only customers. For all single-family residential customers of both water and sewer services from the City, the charges billed during the months of September, October, and November shall be reduced by twenty-five percent (25%) of the combined use charge for both water and sewer usage, as specified in this ordinance; provided, however, no customer shall have the charges reduced by an amount more than $26.00 during the quarterly period billed during the months of September, October, and November. For all customers who are not single family residential customers and have both water and sewer services from the City, the charges billed during the months of July, August, and September shall be reduced by twenty-five percent (25%) of the combined use charge for both water and sewer usage, as specified in this ordinance; provided, however, no customer shall have the charges reduced by an amount more than $8.67 during the monthly period billed during the month of July, $8.67 during the month of August, and $8.66 during the month of September. OTHER FEES Water Turn On Fee... $93.00 Water Meter Testing Fee... $ Bypass Inspection Fee... Back bill + $ Citizen Water Service Request after hours... $93.00 Landlord/Tenant Affidavit Filing Fee... $ Bounced (NSF) Check Fee... $30.00 City Performed Final Water Meter Read... $36.00 Final Water & Sewer Bill Preparation Fee... $15.00