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Customer Conversations: Strategies for Resuming Normal Operations Post-COVID
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Three virtual Customer Conversations meetings were held on different days in October of 2021 to solicit customer input on development of policies regarding water and sewer accounts that have fallen behind on payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-COVID, in 2019, the monthly average number of past-due accounts eligible for disconnection was 576. During the pandemic, that number has risen to more than 5,000. The average delinquent residential account balance is now almost $300. Meanwhile, late fees and disconnections for non-payment have been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020.
As the community and the economy emerge from the pandemic, the Water Authority needs to prepare for a return to normal billing and collection operations. The utility’s Customer Conversations program provided an ideal forum to solicit ideas from ratepayers on best ways to proceed in this area - before late fees and disconnections resume. The focus was on ways to communicate the availability of assistance programs and payment arrangements to ratepayers enduring economic hardship.
By a large margin, Customer Conversations participants agreed that a message of compassion - that help is available - would be the most effective way to get past-due customers to set up payment arrangements and thereby avoid curtailment of service. (All customers who are behind on their water bills can avoid disconnection by setting up a payment arrangement requiring no down payment, and late fees will remain suspended until all past-due customers have had an opportunity to set up a payment arrangement).
Besides payment arrangements, help is also available in the form of the utility’s Water Assistance Fund, its low-income credit program, and some $2.5 million in federal funding from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The Water Authority will promote these programs via through bill inserts, social media, and radio and billboard messaging. To date, approximately $90,000 in ERAP assistance has been awarded to 120 customers.
One hundred forty-nine customers in total participated in the Customer Conservation meetings, which were conducted in an online Zoom format. Participants who remained for an entire meeting and completed post-event evaluation forms were each given a $25 Visa gift card and entered in a raffle for a rain barrel.
Content for the Customer Conversations meetings, each of which was 90 minutes in duration, was developed in consultation with the utility’s Technical Customer Advisory Committee, staff from the Customer Service Division, and the Public Affairs Manager. It included video presentations, interactive polls, and moderated breakout discussions. A complete outcomes report, prepared by the contractor who coordinated the meetings’ online components and registration process, is available in the supporting documents to this agenda item.
Some meeting metrics, briefly noted:
- Customers from all four city quadrants participated in the meetings (NW 27%, NE 39%, SW 22%, SE 12%)
- 74% of participants were under the age of 65 (53% under the age of 55)
- Participant evaluations were overwhelmingly positive, with 72% strongly agreeing that their time had been well spent; 83% strongly agreeing that they felt their input was valued; and 78% strongly agreeing that they would participate in future meetings if given the opportunity.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None