ComplaintsforWalnut Creek Special Utility District

• Initial Complaint

  04/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This a water company that sends the bill out a week before its due every month. Last month I had 7 days to pay the bill before it was late. I set up the payment on bill pay, but it arrived late, so they charged me a $9 late fee (not the first time). I asked them to removed it and they refused. The next bill is due May 1st and I havent received it yet. Are they required to give more than 7 days to pay a bill? I requested to get email copies of the bill, but that hasnt happened either.

  Business response

  04/25/2024

  Attached is the schedule of when *****************' Bills have been sent out. As can be seen Walnut Creek SUD sends out mailed bills between the 14th and 16th of each month. Also attached is the ebill sent to ***************** on the 15th of this month (4/15/24). Walnut Creek has no control over the amount of time it takes for mail to get from the post office to it's customers however, according to our local post master standard mail usually is delivered within 3 to 4 days of mailing. I am not sure who ***************** dealt with at our district office however it is standard practice for the district to forgive a first late fee for customers who have at least a 6 month payment history and have not been late before. Customers are always welcome to call or Email ***************************** the district's General Manager.

  Customer response

  04/26/2024

  Complaint: 21615920
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I still havent received this months bill.  I have no control over the post office either.  My last payment was received 2 days late and was mailed 5 days before it was due.  The check would have been mailed sooner, if I had the bill.  I would like to charge you $9 for receiving the bill late every month or not at all.  
  A resolution would be to mail the bill on the 1st of the month, so it has 10 days to travel 20 miles or make the bill due on the 15th.

  I requested a refund from 2 employees and both refused.  I probably have more than one late charge in the past 6 months for the same reason. I have 6 days to pay a bill and it takes the post office 10 days to deliver.  I also requested to receive an email copy of the bill from the same two employees and I havent received one yet.

  i would pay by phone, but you charge for that too.  Ive been a customer for over 20 years and I expect better.

  Regards,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  04/26/2024

  While I can understand ***************** concerns, the mailed bills cannot be mailed out earlier than mid month due to the time it takes to take all of the reads and to be taken and entered into the system. As far as the Emailed bill records show that the **bill was sent out on the 15th of April, 2024. I will personally contact ***************** and make sure that the Email that the district has is correct and try to resolve this matter. Thank you *****************************, General Manager ,Walnut Creek SUD.

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Water meter malfunction blamed and overcharged by the utility with no recourse because of the utilities monopoly on the water district

  Business response

  01/02/2024

  One of representatives met with Mr. *** at his residence and observed that he had a leak somewhere between our meter and his home. Anything past the meter is the customers responsibility. The customers water was shut off due to non-payment for several months. 

• Initial Complaint

  10/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received my water bill in the amount of ****** for 8/22/23 to 9/13/23, I called the water company and spoke with a rep and they told me my previous month was estimated ( which is the 700+ water bill) and that the digital reader on the meter from time to time the readers wont send the reading back to home office, and there for the next bill you get the full amount. I went out and checked the meter while on the phone with the rep and the current reading was more than what they digital read so there for its current, and when pressing the censor its no leak being record, they are saying i used ****** gallons of water and i have 3 people including myself living in my home. you can clearly see that on the attached bill i have never used that much *********** been raining and I have not been watering, when i called basically told me to bad and id have to pay it. I want this investigated because there is no way i owe over ****** for water and my new bill is only however this bill now is only ****** WITHOUT the remaining balance that is still owed from the ******+ water bill. i want an explanation on how is one month 700+ but the next ****** this is RIDICULOUS and i want them to respond.

  Business response

  11/06/2023

  To whom it may concern, 

    Upon receiving the complaint from **** Horizon trace, the district has a data log pulled from the customers meter. This customer had an estimated bill in August of 2023 the water bill for September caught the bill up to current use. This is perfectly legal per TCEQ standards; however with the data log being pulled it is possible that some adjustment may be made to the bill. The districts Billing Supervisor will be contacting the customer to work out this issue.

• Initial Complaint

  08/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Walnut Creek SUD water service is unacceptable, we are without water multiple times per week and have very low water pressure other days. We get Boil Water alerts daily due to water breaks. We are in stage 3 and cannot even water our lawns for weeks now, and this is due to poor planning, misuse of funds. The lake is at 65%, the law says we do not go to stage 3 until it's at 45%. They tell us that they are unable to pump water, yet they keep adding new homes everyday. This is impacting several communities. Parker County is also to blame because they keep issuing building permits to add homes and to allow Frontier to keep installing fiber and they are breaking the water lines on a weekly basis. We have great concerns that these issues are not being resolved. I would have not moved here should I known about these issues. We are not allowed to install our own well and we have no other choices to provide water to our home. This is totally unacceptable!! To add, they keep raising our water bill to extreme highs. I pay more for terrible water service here than I have paid in my entire life! They have received millions in bonds, yet they do not install enough pumps to get us water. They need to be audited to find out what they are doing with the money and why these issues are not be addressed.

  Business response

  10/02/2023

  Walnut Creek SUD is very aware of problems in the area of *******************, where this gentleman lives. There have been many breaks in the area caused by a contracting crew, laying new 16" water line . The contractors are working in close proximity to existing water lines, installing the 16" inch line. When a line is struck a boil water notice is put out per TCEQ standards. When the line is repaired and the water has been tested at a state approved laboratory and does not show contamination due to pressure loss, the boil water notice is then rescinded. The reason for the 16" line being installed is to get better pressure and volume to the area of ******************* where as stated before this gentleman lives. This project is nearing completion.  All Walnut Creek activities are per TCEQ,PUC and EPA standards. With TCEQ setting the main set of standards. 

  Customer response

  10/04/2023

  Complaint: 20499874
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  When I have called on many occasions, I was told each time that the reason for no water or low water pressure was because a Frontier contractor broke a water line when installing fiber for internet.  Not once did the customer service lady say anything about their own crews breaking water lines because they were adding capacity to address low pressure.  The explanation given does not match what I was told.  We have lost water service multiple times per weeks for months!, so this is not a short term problem, but rather a total failure of planning, management, and project execution.  They need to be held accountable.  It also lacks the facts that they continue to add new homes when they are unable to provide consistent service to the existing customers.   It also does not address the fact that we have been on water restrictions for months because they cannot pump enough water, even though they received millions in bonds to install more pumps.  Telling customers that we need to let our expressive grass die is unacceptable and they should be held liable for replacing dead grass!  We do not have a water shortage, as the lake is at 65%  capacity and the county restrictions do not go into effect until the water supply is at 45%, per Parker county documents.  The only reason we are on water restrictions is because Parker county issued too many new building permits based on what Walnut Creek told them they can support.  This is totally unacceptable.  Because they are unable to provide reliable water service, we should be allowed to drill our own *****, yet Walnut Creek will not allow this.  We need to add more water service providers and not be held hostage by Walnut Creek!  A class action lawsuit is expected to follow if no action is taken.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  10/04/2023

  In the previous response, I simply stated the facts as to the districts knowing about pressure problems and what is being done to eliminate the problems. Also addressing the water outages.  As for new houses being added to the system per **** and PUC regulations the district is required to supply water when it is requested within the districts **** Engineering studies are done and customers or developers are required to help pay for upgrades needed to for the district to adequately supply water. Please be aware that irrigation and outdoor watering are not factored into the water supply engineering studies, as the **** does not consider these as essential water uses. The district can not legally tell a potential customer no if they are in the **** The *** is set by the **************. As stated in the previous reply the district is having a 16" water line installed to help with pressure and supply in the Rocky ***** and Vintage Oaks areas. This 16 "water line installation was started in April of this year and is due to be completed within the next few weeks. This project was deemed an emergency by the district and by the **** along with upgrading the water tower in the area and extending it 58' higher to help with pressure and supply. Existing lines have been marked by the district for the contractor however the contractors crews are working in a very confined area and have had multiple line strikes. The lines were also marked last year and at the first of this year when Frontier was coming through, they still hit lines for which they were billed.

    The millions of dollars spoken of is actually a $40 million dollar bond. The contracts for the bond were signed last week. The district will receive the money for the bond in mid October. In mid to late November the district will be taking bids on ******************************************************** early **** if not sooner. There are also 9 more upgrade projects to start within the next 1 to 3 years all pointed at getting better service to our customers. All to be paid for with the bond monies.

     The stage 3 water restrictions were put into place due to heavy use causing outages in the districts outlying areas. The decision had to be made to stop outside irrigation because the districts system could not supply the amount of water required as fast as it was being used and keep essential water(for bathing and fire protection etc.) in those outlying areas as they were not designed for supplying that much water; because as was said before ,irrigation was not put into the equation as it is not required nor considered essential by the **** the districts regulating entity. Also please note that the **** does not consider banning irrigation as an extreme stage . Banning outside watering and irrigation is considered a moderate stage by the ****. All district decisions are made within **** rules and regulations. Walnut Creek is one of over ************************************************************** ***** at this time. 108 of which are under restrictions as stringent if not more so than Walnut Creek. Keeping up with growth beyond what could have ever been predicted along with drought conditions is a plague to many Water providers all over the **************. The problems are being addressed and worked on diligently by the district.

  Customer response

  10/09/2023

  Complaint: 20499874
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  If you are unable to provide the water I need, then I want permission to have my own well.  I also think there is some unlawfully agreements with Walnut Creek and ****** county because you are telling Parking county that you have compacity to add more homes, so ****** county continues to issue new building permits to add more homes, even though you are unable to supply your existing customers.  I also challenge that it's not considered essential for me to keep my landscaping alive when it cost thousands of dollars to install.  I can understand if there has been a natural disaster and we need to conserve, but that is not the case here.  This is over committing and under delivering and at the cost of your customers.  ****** county is issuing new building permits because Walnut creek is telling them you have support more homes, and that is not true.  ****** county and Walnut creek are taking more money by adding more homes, but the existing customers are paying the price.  I want to be refunded to replace any dead landscaping and I want permission to have my own well.  We also need our *********** senators to investigate both Walnut Creek and ****** county.     
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  07/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Walnut Creek Utility Company is over charging customers. There are numerous complaints about being charged the wrong amount and this company fails to correct the problem by replacing the meters that are faulty. The company is constantly restricting our water, giving us unclean water, boiling water notices, and fails to read the meter and gives estimates and then over charges customers by hundreds of dollars. Water testing shows unclean, undrinkable water and this company fails to notify customers of this.

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  We have been customers since September/October 2021. Apparently this company thinks its "okay" to estimate your monthly bill. If their estimation is wrong, they expect you (the customer) to go check your meter and call them with the correct reading. That is THEIR job! When we get monthly bills, that is when we know what we are using and where we should watch the usage (electric bill, water bill, etc). So the previous 3 months our bill has been between $100-$200. We water our lawn during the summer, hence the reason for a higher bill. Then last month we get a bill for $1002! Someone finally came out to read our meter. This month our bill was $245?! No leaks, no more watering the lawn. Why is our bill so high? Last year it was not even $100! So we have been checking our meter every week. My husband noticed the meter is going backwards???!!! There is clearly something not right. Their employee said the meters never work right, they're understaffed, the list goes on. How is this legal? Estimating a customers bill? This company has been ripping their customers off and we are all tired of it!

• Initial Complaint

  10/20/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have been a Walnut Creek customer for over 13 years and I have only ever had two high bills: one summer when I was heavily watering trees during a drought and one January when my water main busted due to a freeze. Otherwise, my **** is never higher than $55 and we use less than **** gallons a month. I received my new **** and it's $120 and says we used ***** gallons, which is impossible; we do not have a leak (I checked), no sprinkler system and only water our trees maybe once a week. We don't have a pool or a hot tub or any other water feature that would cause this sort of ****. The problem is the smart meter and the company's **** estimating. The meters use celI service to transmit the readings and we don't have very good coverage where we live. It is absolutely absurd that they can't have an employee read the meters like they used to. I'm going to complain to them but I know it won't do any good. But they have everyone over a barrel because they're the only water company around.

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