January 2017 marked the start of Cleveland Water's transition of accounts from quarterly to monthly billing to help customers better manage their household budget, track their water usage and detect possible leaks sooner. With your new monthly bills, water meters will be read monthly, and all consumption and other related charges will be based on a monthly rate.
Benefits of Monthly Billing
- More Efficient Household Budgeting: Cleveland Water bills will now align with most other utility bills such as gas and electric making your monthly budget that much simpler.
- More Frequent and Timely Information About Your Water Usage: Monitoring your usage can help you control utility costs and save money, especially during summer months.
- Ability to Detect Possible Water Leaks Quickly: With more timely information, you’ll easily notice if your water usage is different than normal which means you’ll find potential problems quickly, eliminating costly damage to your home and high bills resulting from leaks
Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions you may find helpful:
1. Do more frequent bills mean estimated readings?
No! The vast majority of Cleveland Water customers have been upgraded to our Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system which electronically provides daily and hourly readings from your water meter so your bills always reflect your actual usage.
2. Does my water bill look different?
No, your water bill will look the same. The only difference is your bill will reflect one month of usage instead of three. Your water usage graph will now display the graph based on monthly usage. The bills will still contain water charges and related fees for your actual usage.
On the first monthly bill, there will only be one graph line for the current month until the monthly bill history builds up to display a total of 13 months’ usage.
3. I will need to make payments more often and use more postage. How can I save time and money?
Yes, payment is required monthly but should be lower than quarterly bills. You can save time by registering for the Cleveland Water web portal at my.clevelandwater.com for paperless billing and recurring payments.
4. If I sign up for paperless billing, must I sign up for automatic recurring payments?
No, signing up for paperless billing does not obligate you to make automatic recurring payments. When you register with our online portal, you can make a fee-free, one-time payment whenever you choose or sign up for fee-free automatic recurring payments. Either way, you can have the payment(s) deducted from your credit or debit card as well as your checking or savings account.
5. Is there a charge for paying online or via telephone?
No. Cleveland Water does not charge a service fee to our customers for online payments through our my.clevelandwater.com portal or payments made via telephone. For your convenience, you can use your credit or debit card, or have the amount of your payment deducted from your checking or savings account.
6. Why does my first monthly bill seem higher than my quarterly bills?
If your first monthly bill appears to be higher than before, it is most likely due to a past due balance on your previous quarterly bill. Due to sending the first monthly bill approximately 30 days after your last quarterly bill, some customers may not have paid the previous quarterly bill. Any past due balances will appear in your bill’s “Account Summary” as a “Previous Balance.” If you want to see how much your new monthly bill is, you just add the current Cleveland Water charges and any applicable local charges. To see where these are located on your bill, click here
7. Do I have the same amount of time to pay my bill before it becomes past due?
Yes. Quarterly bills have always been due within 20 days of the bill date. After that time, they are considered past due. Now that you are on a monthly billing cycle, your bills will be smaller every month but you still have 20 days to pay the bill before it is considered past due.
8. If I pay my water bill using recurring payments, do I need to change anything?
It depends. There are several ways you could set-up recurring payments on your Cleveland Water bill. If your recurring payments are set-up through the MyClevelandWater.com portal or through an ACH or EZ Pay transaction, you do not need to change anything – your payments will automatically be adjusted to our new monthly billing. However, if you established recurring payments through your personal banking website, you will likely need to go in and adjust the payment frequency from every three months to every month.
Find a Printable Version Here: Monthly Billing Bill Sample and FAQs