Birmingham Water Works set to shut off delinquent customer’s water; bill assistance available

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - You have only one week left to pay your Birmingham Water Works bill before the utility starts shutting off your water.

This comes after a year of billing issue and overpayments, and while they say all bills are correct now, more than 20 thousand people have not paid.

Birmingham Water Works has not shut off anyone’s water for over a year, but they said it is now causing an alarming number of outstanding debt. The utility reports that customers owe $14.7 million to them.

Officials said around 27,000 customers are in delinquent status on their bills. The company’s spokesman said the utility will likely start with the customers who haven’t paid in a long time. BWW said when customers aren’t forced to pay, sometimes they won’t. Spokesperson Rick Jackson said the shut offs will be a slow roll out, because he says word gets around and customers usually start paying after that.

Jackson said you can pay or get on a payment plan any day before the 15th to prevent being shut off.

“Any customers who are having financial difficulties or don’t think they can bring their account current by Feb 15th, we are really willing to help,” Jackson said. “We have payment arrangements, payment installment plans, and we also have some utility assistance.”

Jackson said if you do get shut off, they can usually get it turned back on in the same day after payment, but it will cost you even more, with late charges and fee’s to turn the water back on. He said they have extended their hours and are now open until noon on Saturdays to help accommodate customers.

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