💧 A Deeper Look at Pearland’s Water Billing Issues By James Snell

For several years now, Pearland residents have raised concerns about water bills that felt unusually high, unpredictable, or difficult to reconcile with actual household usage. This article is not about assigning blame or relitigating old arguments. It is about what actually happened, what the numbers show, and why the issue continues to matter. Everything below is based on publicly available records, outside reviews, city documents, and reporting from local and regional news outlets. How the Problem Started: Meter Reads vs Billing Cycles In 2018, Pearland adjusted how often it read water meters. Meters began being read on a 28-day cycle, while customers continued to be billed on a monthly basis. Because most months are 30 or 31 days long, this created a growing gap between water usage and water billed. At first, the discrepancy was small. Over time, it compounded. An outside review later confirmed that the city lacked internal policies and monitoring processes that might have flagged the mismatch earlier. By the time it was discovered, several years of water usage had effectively gone unbilled. This finding was documented in a third-party review commissioned by the city and reported by Community Impact in 2020. The Financial Gap: What the City Was Trying to Recover According to city disclosures and media reporting, the billing discrepancy represented millions of dollars in unbilled water usage over multiple years. While exact figures varied by estimate and accounting method, city officials acknowledged that the utility fund had accumulated a significant shortfall tied directly to the billing cycle mismatch. That shortfall is what led to the city’s next decision. The “32/30” Billing Plan To recover the unbilled usage, Pearland implemented what became known as the 32/30 plan. Under this approach, residents were billed for 32 days of water usage every 30 days, allowing the city to gradually close the gap between water consumed and water billed. From an accounting perspective, the plan was designed to recover past usage rather than generate new revenue. From a customer perspective, it felt very different. Residents reported bills that were substantially higher than expected, sometimes without clear explanations that matched their day-to-day water use. Reported Bills and Public Reaction Local news outlets documented numerous cases of unusually high water bills during this period. In January 2022, Click2Houston reported on Pearland residents receiving bills in the thousands of dollars, including one household that reported two consecutive bills totaling more than eight thousand dollars. KHOU and the Houston Chronicle covered packed city council meetings where residents questioned meter accuracy, billing calculations, and the fairness of the catch-up process. In several cases, residents reported checking for leaks, replacing plumbing components, or requesting meter inspections without finding explanations that aligned with billed usage. City Response and Policy Changes As public pressure increased, the city took several steps. In mid-2022, Pearland City Council voted to phase out the 32/30 billing structure and return to a more conventional billing cycle. The transition involved issuing a limited number of extended-cycle bills designed to fully reconcile past usage, after which billing returned to a normal schedule. The city also expanded its customer assistance options, including leak adjustments and payment plans for qualifying residents. Meter Technology and System Upgrades Another major component of the response was infrastructure. Pearland began rolling out Advanced Metering Infrastructure, or AMI, which allows for digital meter reads, near real-time usage tracking, and customer access to detailed consumption data through an online portal. According to city materials, AMI meters are intended to reduce manual read errors, provide earlier leak detection, and give residents better visibility into how and when water is being used. While the technology itself does not erase past frustration, it represents a structural change aimed at preventing similar issues going forward. Why the Issue Still Resonates Even though billing practices have changed, the water issue remains emotionally charged for many residents. That is not because of a single bill or policy, but because of three lingering factors: First, the original discrepancy went undetected for years. Second, the recovery process placed sudden financial strain on households. Third, communication often lagged behind customer experience. For many residents, trust was damaged, and rebuilding it takes more than technical fixes. What the Numbers Say Today As of now, Pearland water and sewer rates are published openly, tiered by usage, and based on meter size and volume consumed. A typical Pearland household using around six thousand gallons per month will generally see a combined water, sewer, and garbage bill in the mid-one-hundred-dollar range, before taxes and additional fees. Individual bills can vary widely based on usage patterns, drainage charges, and seasonal factors. Importantly, current bills reflect current usage, not recovery for past discrepancies. The Bottom Line Pearland’s water billing controversy was not about a single mistake. It was about process, oversight, and how corrections were implemented once a problem was discovered. The city has taken steps to address those issues through policy changes, billing adjustments, and technology upgrades. Whether those steps are enough to fully restore public confidence remains an open question. Understanding the timeline and the numbers does not erase frustration. But it does provide clarity, and clarity is the starting point for accountability.