Haltom City resumes water meter reading, billing in December
Haltom City officials said they were caught off guard last week when the company handling water bills and meter reading announced it was going out of business.
Assistant City Manager Rex Phelps said in an email to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Haltom City will take over billing and customer service on Dec. 2.
In 2018, Haltom City, with around 44,000 people, contracted with Arizona’s based Fathom Water Management to install smart meters and take over billing services previously handled by the city.
Fathom also had a portal where customers could track their water use.
“We were caught off-guard (as all of their client cities across the country) by their announcement,” Phelps said in the email. “We are still working out all of the details and we are working on keeping the portal or some variation of the portal available. We are working to keep as little disruption as possible to the citizens.”
Before Haltom City got the smart meters, thousands of gallons of water were lost every year because of leaks, and the meters weren’t giving accurate readings.
But officials faced a backlash from residents who complained that their bills were too high, and many showed up at council meetings to voice their concerns, reporting their bills were over $100. The city said the smart meters were giving accurate readings, and residents were charged for their actual water use.
The high water bill concerns spilled over into the city council election in May.
Earlier this year, the city council requested an independent audit of the billing and water meters. The audit showed that the meters and billing system were accurate, and that the meters are read every 15 minutes.
Haltom City isn’t the only North Texas community affected by Fathom’s announcement. Kennedale already planned to switch its water billing to Arlington, but that wasn’t going to take place until this summer.