After a peak in unpaid bills in 2024, Richmond’s utilities department is pushing to get customers — and its own accounts — back on track. 

“We can’t continue to operate like this,” Department of Public Utilities Public Information Manager Rhonda Johnson told the city’s Public Utilities and Services Commission last week. 

The amount of money owed to DPU that’s more than 90 days past due has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic, from $13.6 million in fiscal year 2019 to a peak of $66.9 million in fiscal year 2024. (Those figures, Johnson confirmed to The Richmonder, are the cumulative total of unpaid bills the department faced as of that year.) 

Since then, the number has begun to fall, but as of this January it was still sitting at $47.6 million. 

“You’ll see the growth over the past five, six years,” said Johnson. “Utility revenue funds us, funds all the things that we do. So we really need that revenue.” 

Mounting delinquent bills can also affect bond ratings over time, said both Johnson and DPU Director Scott Morris, although Morris pointed out that the past due totals are trending in the right direction. 

With the steps DPU has begun to take to curb delinquency, he said, “I don’t think we’re at risk of that.” 

“We just need to make sure that we're doing the right thing and that we have collected and we don't take a blind eye,” he said. “Because these are services that are provided. These are balances on the system. These are funds that we can use for capital investments elsewhere.”

The Back on Track program launched by DPU this winter is intended to provide delinquent customers what the department calls “a final opportunity” to get their accounts current or enroll in a payment plan to zero out their balance over the next two years. 

In a February release, Morris said the program “strikes a balance between fiscal responsibility and compassion for our community.” 

“Back on Track is an important campaign to help maintain and strengthen DPU’s financial health and long-term stability, both key factors in ensuring our ability to meet the needs of our customers and keep rates affordable,” he wrote.

The program is open to both residential and commercial customers with delinquent accounts. Residential customers can enroll in a PromisePay payment plan of up to 24 months with a 10% down payment, while commercial customers can do so with a 20% down payment. At the same time, the department has expanded its MetroCare Assistance Program, which offers credits to low-income households’ water, wastewater or gas bills. 

To be eligible for a 24-month payment plan, all customers have to enroll by March 31. After that time, payment plans can only be as long as 12 months. 

Accounts that are still delinquent after April 1 “will be subject to service disconnection, with disconnections beginning in April,” DPU said in its February announcement. 

Johnson and Morris both told the Public Utilities and Services Commission that DPU wants to do what it can to avoid disconnections. 

“We never want to see customers in a scenario where they have to lose utility services,” said Johnson. 

Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org