The City of Shreveport Department of Water and Sewerage is implementing a new water billing system called Utility Management BillingSystem (UMBS). This change requires that the system be briefly unavailableto customers.  Beginning June 28th, the current system will be offline totransfer information over to UMBS.  Customers will not be able to access accounts online or through Customer Service during this time; nor will customers be able to make payments.  Payments received will be held until the new system is online.  The new system is expected to be up and running July 1st.  

To accommodate customers during this blackout period, the City will not charge late fees for July bills and will not disconnect services for non-payment in the month of July. Requests for new service or other service orders and emergencies will be handled manually, and then put in the new system the following week.

The new bill will have additional features, including a historical water usage graph and more detailed calculations related to water and sewer charges.  These features make the bill easier for customers to understand. 

A sample residential bill with notes in red is shown here. New Bill Sample

Some changes to processes and procedures include:

• Customers can still request payment extensions on their disconnect notices.  This extension will set up a new disconnect date of one day prior to when their current bill is due.  

• Payment arrangements have been adjusted to reduce the payment amount required up front from 50 percent to 25 percent and have extended the payment period from three to four months.  Payment arrangement information will also be printed on the bill.

• If a customer is required to provide a deposit on the account(most customers are not), the deposit must be paid prior to water service being connected.  The amount of the deposit required has been reduced from $150 to $75.

Specific FAQs concerning online account set up and payments in the new system are available at the following link: FAQs for new billing system