As it turns out, that’s a significant improvement from where things stood a year ago.
Dallas began enforcing unpaid bills through disconnected services last September, after switching over to the DallasGo payment platform. At the time, around 26% of DWU customers were at least 60 days behind on their payments, with the average outstanding balance at $127.
Over the last year, about 70% of delinquent customers have paid off their balances. For the 8% of households still behind on bill payments, the city is encouraging customers to set up a payment plan to avoid having their water turned off.
“The number of customers with past due balances on their invoices by at least 60 days changes daily,” the city wrote in the memo. “DWU is committed to working with customers to set up a payment plan to avoid service interruption.”
Bill Paying Woes
The fact that 8% of Dallas households are at risk of losing their water access aligns with what financial experts are warning is an unsustainable financial squeeze on basic necessities. This isn’t just a Dallas issue, either. According to the Brookings Institution, Water and sewer bills for the typical U.S. household have increased by 24% over the past five years.Alongside water costs, electric bills have increased across North Texas for years. Last summer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that customers were paying 16% more than the year before to keep the lights on.
“It's hard to make ends meet in some cases for people who have no marginal income. Even people of greater affluence are just kind of shocked at what they're paying,” State Sen. Nathan Johnson told the Observer last year.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in May of this year, more than a quarter of U.S. adults reported feeling their economic situation would worsen over the coming year. One in five of those surveyed said they have had trouble paying for their rent or mortgage, daily transportation costs, child care and necessities such as food. A quarter said they cannot completely pay their monthly bills, such as utility or Wi-Fi costs.
Lower-income households were twice as likely as middle-income households to report those challenges, and families struggling to make payments are overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic, the report found.
Dallas families feeling the financial squeeze might face additional challenges in the upcoming year. According to the city’s proposed annual budget, which will be voted on this month and go into effect Oct. 1, the average Dallas resident will likely see their water bill go up by 5% (around $4 each month) starting next fiscal year. Fees associated with stormwater and sanitation are expected to increase by another dollar each month.
An additional $5 a month may not be a dealbreaker for most Dallas households, and it may not even be that huge of a jump for those struggling to make utility payments. Still, the price hike represents consistent, year-over-year increases to the service.
In the city's budget draft, water bills are projected to grow by around 2.8% each year for the next five years. That means by the time 2030 hits, you’ll be spending $10 more each month on water than you do now. Stormwater fees are expected to grow by 6.8 percent in that same period.
