A bungled switch to a new electronic payment system has left customers of the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority unable to access some account information online or make automated payments, likely until this fall.
The authority serves thousands of homes in a number of eastern suburbs, including Churchill, East Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Forest Hills, North Braddock, Penn Hills, Swissvale, Turtle Creek and Wilkinsburg.
The authority did not respond to requests for comment from WESA.
Several local officials in the WPJWA service area have said the authority did a poor job of communicating the changes, and some residents received late notices and shutoff notices through no fault of their own when they weren’t aware that automated payments had stopped.
“People were really taken by surprise,” said state Rep. Abigail Salisbury, who herself is a customer of the authority, but only learned of the billing system changes through constituents contacting her about billing problems.
Swissvale borough councilman Josh Miser said the water authority had a “complete failure of communication on this.”
Advocacy group Pittsburgh United, which has been working with customers of the authority, said it believes the agency should not perform any shutoffs until the billing system is fixed and until a program is in place to aid low-income households served by the authority, which Pittsburgh United has long advocated for.
In general, municipal utilities, such as WPJWA, tend to have fewer customer protections than those under the jurisdiction of the state’s Public Utility Commission, said Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, which aids low-income customers.
“Municipal authorities are not subject to the billing, collections, and termination standards that apply to large private water companies,” she said. Marx said broader standards should apply so that consumers have a path to resolve issues with water and wastewater and their ability to maintain service.
In a letter posted on the authority's website, WPJWA said it will start sending paper bills to customers. It also said residents should disregard any notices from the previous provider.
“They need to do a much better job in caring about their consumer because they're essentially a monopoly in this area,” Salisbury said.
“I think it's just inappropriate the way that they've been dealing with their customers,” she said.
