by Jon Baliles

The City of Richmond put out a release last week touting the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) “Back on Track” program that offers any customer with an outstanding balance to sign up for a payment plan before March 31st. Both residential and commercial customers with delinquent balances can set up an interest-free payment plan without any convenience fees for up to 24 months to avoid service disruption. Those customers with already existing payment plans will also be able to renegotiate outstanding balances. Residential customers may enroll with a 10% down payment of their delinquent balance and commercial customers may enroll with a 20% down payment, and plans can run up to 24 months, depending on the account balance.

DPU Director Scott Morris said, “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. This campaign strikes a balance between fiscal responsibility and compassion for our community by offering customers a meaningful opportunity to resolve past-due utility balances.

It’s good the city is facing the delinquent billing issue and trying to be helpful with payment plans and terms. But what’s missing from the public view (again, there’s that lack of transparency thing) is the question, how will the city and the public track this program and measure if it is a success?

Even before Covid, DPU was facing an acute delinquent billing problem; since 2020 it is has been downright massive. Last fall when Mayor Danny Avula kicked off his MAP (Mayoral Action Plan), he talked about using dashboards to measure progress for all kinds of things, and this payment plan initiative is one of those things that’s perfect for measuring progress and using a dashboard to show it.

DPU payment plan initiatives are nothing new. This latest one in 2026 is very similar to the one the city launched in the fall of 2023 (and also during Covid). But like all the others, it’s hard to track if they were successful without measuring the baseline and who signs up and how much revenue collection can be expected from those payment plans. This is a ripe and perfect opportunity for the Mayor to launch a dashboard and share the numbers because, since last year’s water crisis, DPU needs every penny it is owed and delinquent accounts are a much more serious problem; if not corrected or minimized, the lack of revenue will have a major impact on future water rate increases and our ability to pay to fix the water plant and network.

The last known numbers from DPU operations and bills in arrears appeared in a March 2023 Richmond Free Press article and from the city’s 2023 audit that found:

• In 2016-2017, DPU reported $4.53 million in bills that were unpaid for 90 days.
• In March 2020 after Covid hit, disconnections, late fees and collection notices were suspended and were not resumed until Nov. 1, 2021.
• On June 30, 2020, uncollected bills 90 days late or more reached $19 million.
• Of the 12,363 payment plans set up by July 2020, only 40 percent of customers activated their payment plans.
• DPU received about $21 million in funds from Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to help with delinquent bills, but there was an increase in delinquent accounts and amounts owed.
• By December 2021, DPU had 13,773 customers on repayment plans, but only 54% activated the plans.
• As of June 30, 2022, DPU reported $25.4 million in unpaid bills that were overdue 90 or more days.
• $25.4 million in unpaid bills amounted to 7 percent of DPU’s revenue in 2022.
• In 2023, as many as 6,300 households (about 9% of the 66,500 DPU customers) were looking at disconnection of their water service (insert January 2025 joke here).

So where are we today? How many accounts are more than 90 days delinquent how much is owed, and how many people are already on a payment plan, and how many plans were set up but never saw any payment or any recent payments? Inquiring minds would like to know… Download the Substack app to continue reading for free.

Jon Baliles is a former Richmond city councilman. This column has been republished with permission from his blog RVA 5×5.