Officials in Stockton, Calif. are apologizing to thousands of city residents who were incorrectly notified that they were delinquent on their sewer bills. The problems occurred as a result of transferring to a new computer system.
The notice of delinquency, including in a bill, also stated that service could be terminated.
The California Water Service Co. previously handled both water and sewer billing for about 38,000 central Stockton homes and businesses. That changed in July as the city resumed billing on its own. The transition in billing services already was expected to raise questions from the public with Cal Water customers now receiving a bill that they didnt used to get.
The billing glitch happened while payment information was transferred from Cal Waters computer system to Stocktons. A total of 13,492 customers received the delinquency notices despite being current on their payments. The error flooded the citys phone lines with calls from the public.
