PHOENIX, Az — The City of Phoenix will start shutting off water later this month for customers who are more than four months behind on their bills.
Starting Nov. 16, water shutoffs will start for accounts that haven't paid for more than four months. The city announced the change Oct. 1, marking the return of a practice Phoenix paused in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city says more than 9,000 accounts are seriously delinquent, and owe nearly $24 million. That total includes water, wastewater, and solid waste charges, plus taxes and fees. Based on its own review, the city says Phoenix is the only water utility in Arizona that does not disconnect residential service for significantly delinquent accounts.
“We had stopped doing turn-offs for a period of time so that people had water available to them while COVID was happening,” Brandy Kelso, director of the City of Phoenix Water Services Department. “We then had a period of time where we had some federal dollars to help people with payments.”
Kelso said a customer who misses one payment and catches up on the next bill won’t be shut off.
“For (the delinquent) customers, they’re more than 120 days delinquent, so it’s time to start getting them either on a payment plan or getting them other resources through Project Assist, if they qualify,” Kelso said.
Project Assist is run by the city’s Human Services Department for income-qualified households, according to the city. Eligibility requirements apply, and help depends on available funding.
Kelso said customer service staff have started sending letters and contacting customers ahead of the shutoffs.
Outside of finances, the city also points to the drought on the Colorado River as part of the reason for the policy’s return. It says Lake Mead being in a Level 1 Shortage Condition contributes.
“We really want our customers to always be doing the right thing as far as their water-wise usage, and you’re not gonna necessarily do that if you’re not paying attention to your bill,” added Kelso.
Jessica Berg is chief program officer at St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix, a community outreach group that helps people who are struggling or experiencing homelessness.
Berg said helping people pay utilities is a big part of what the group does, through what it calls homelessness prevention. She said people who are struggling often let water bills build up because they believe the water won’t get shut off.
“When they come to us, it is a lot of money that they need, it’s a lot of months of not paying the water bill,” Berg said.
Berg said she expects more people from Phoenix to come to St. Vincent de Paul for help once the shutoffs begin. She said the group has funders who can help “to some extent,” and that it plans to put water bills on its list and talk with its partners and the city.
“It’s just a matter of us all collaborating and working together to figure out how to keep people from falling through the cracks.”
Customers who are behind on paying their water bills can call Phoenix Customer Services at 602-262-6251, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. They can also manage their accounts online at payonline.phoenix.gov/eportal/. More information is available at phoenix.gov/water.
