12:51 PM CST on Wednesday, March 30, 2005

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

It was a week ago that 11 News first uncovered a revelation involving city water bills.

KHOU-TV

One man's investigation into his water bill may lead to a change in billing for all City of Houston water customers.

One water fight has been resolved and what happened downtown Tuesday could change the billing process for every single home and business in Houston. It is one way Houstonians can save some of their hard earned cash.

Robert Miller is a Houston resident who has been upset with the city about his water bill.

"It's a whole lot worse than what I expected," Miller said about his discovery of how water bills work.

Going through the process of fighting what he called outrageous charges, Miller learned what many of us didn't know -- that the city has a unique way of billing its customers.

"Well I didn't really learn the whole problem until I got to arbitration, until they gave me all the facts and figures. I almost fell out of my chair," said Miller.

Lets say your March bill says you used 3,000 gallons, but unknown to you, you actually used 3,800 gallons.

The additional 800 gallons are rolled over to the next month, even though the bill doesn't explain this.

In April, let's say you used 3,600 gallons. With the rollover, it adds up to 4,400 gallons. The cost then rises to the higher rate of $27.

Then the remaining 400 gallons roll over to the next month.

Miller took his findings to City Hall Tuesday.

The leaders at City Council made it clear that they were unaware of this billing practice.

"Your presentation on the television was very interesting. I am glad you brought this to our attention," said councilmember Shelly Sekula-Gibbs.

Perhaps because of Miller, there will be a change.

Mr. Miller you shouldn't be mad at the water department that has to execute. That's our fault that we put in place a system that works this way, and I will tell you, it's the first news to me. OK, it's a big city. I will be the first to admit that I did not realize that that is the way it works," said Councilmember Michael Berry.

Miller left the meeting pleased. "Yeah, I found that City Council stood behind me today," he said.

If the billing process is not changed, at the very least, the Public Works Division of the City of Houston told 11 News it is looking into ways to best inform consumers on how the billing system works so the secret is completely out on the rollover system.