An equipment malfunction has forced the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to delay billing for roughly 5,000 customers on the city’s South Side. The department discovered the issue Oct. 17 and paused billing to avoid issuing inaccurate statements.

After reviewing the data, DPU will send impacted customers a single corrected bill covering both the previous and current billing periods. To ease the burden, base fees will only be applied for one month — resulting in an average reduction of about $40 to $50, or nearly 15%. No late fees will be charged. 

DPU also said it has purchased new meter-reading equipment and plans a citywide rollout in the coming weeks to improve reliability. 

Customers with questions can contact the DPU Customer Care Center at (804) 646-4646 or dpucustserv@rva.gov.