The flat rate water bill is almost a thing of the past in Fresno. Just about every home in the city now has a meter measuring usage and billing accordingly.
Director of Public Utilities, Patrick Wiemiller said, "By and large we're done, we're just down to a few that needed particular special handling to get them installed."
On Karen Clark's North Fresno street, she says there's a constant river streaming from sprinklers and water hoses. "We like to have a green lawn and we'd hate to have to cut back to far...when you get yellow spots it's kind of disheartening," Clark said.
The meters are running but Clark says she hasn't noticed a difference, "Not so far...if it goes up double then I'm gonna be concerned."
Her neighbor Nick is seeing a difference. He didn't want to speak on camera but said the bill at his rental property has gone up $25 a month. "I'm gonna have to raise the rent for those people," Nick added, "I don't know what it's gonna be like for my house, I have a pool so most likely it's gonna go up."
The city is trying to help. As meters turn on, customers receive a parallel bill. It gives them two months to adjust and say goodbye to the flat rate.
Wiemiller said, "If their bill seems to be high then we have people available to work with them to find out if they have leaks in the home or help improve their practices on irrigation."
The city has installed 109,00 meters and 90,000 customers are already receiving the metered bills.
TXT 24
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