Haltom City to outsource water utility billing starting Jan. 15

Haltom City will outsource its water utility billing this month, permanently closing the city department Jan. 11.

No jobs will be lost, but the way the 13,500 water customers in Haltom City pay their bill will change.

FATHOM Water Management will take over utility billing Jan. 15 and will begin installing about 10,000 smart water meters across the city over the next few months. An additional 3,000 existing meters will be retrofitted.

The smart water meters will give real-time updates on water usage, much the same way that smart electric meters do for Oncor.

“If they have a leak, for example, or see a spike, they can get right on it rather than waiting a month or two for the bill,” said Rex Phelps, assistant city manager. “It’s just a no-brainer. It’s a smart way to do it. We’re going to be saving money in year one and two. But the savings long term will be even higher.”

Phelps said Haltom City had no control over water rates, as the city buys its water from the city of Fort Worth. Privatizing the water billing could save the city up to $323,900 a year while giving end users a better way to conserve, Phelps said.

The meter installation process takes about 30 minutes or less. The water will be shut off for a short period of time to each house or business, Phelps said.

With the new meters, Haltom City residents will be able to access a cloud-based platform that tracks water usage. The real-time data can be pulled up on the web and mobile devices.

Customers can set alerts if they exceed a certain usage for the month.

Older water meters aren’t as accurate, said Jason Bethke, president and growth officer for FATHOM.

“People will understand how to use water more effectively,” Bethke said.

FATHOM will open a customer service office at 5417 Stanley Keller Road in Haltom City to provide residents with a physical location to pay their bill and manage their accounts.

The city’s water department has five employees, including three meter readers. All the employees will transition to other departments, Phelps said. “Through attrition, we’ll be able to absorb them.”

Water customers will get new account numbers in early January.

The new bill will look similar to the power bill that many retail electric providers send out, with a water usage graph, a detailed list of charges and various water account information.

For more information about the transition, visit the Haltom City/FATHOM website.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 6:57 AM with the headline "Haltom City to outsource water utility billing starting Jan. 15."