NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The Louisiana House unanimously passed a bill Tuesday (April 16) aimed at reforming customer billing by the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans.

Paul Rainwater, who heads Gov. Jeff Landry’s Sewerage & Water Board task force, called it the first step toward restoring customer confidence and trust in the system.

Rainwater said he’s pleased with the 99-0 vote sending the bill on to the state Senate.

“We believe this is (an) important step for the residents in New Orleans, who don’t agree with their water bills and don’t trust the water bills,” Rainwater said.

House Bill No. 965 calls for the Sewerage & Water Board to give customers the option of paying a fixed monthly rate for services until an automated meter is installed and operable on their property.

That rate would be determined by averaging recent bills.

Should a customer disagree with the fixed bill result, the proposed legislation also calls for billing disputes to be settled by an arbitrator appointed in each council district.

That arbitrator would be picked by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and the New Orleans Inspector General, and would require confirmation by the New Orleans City Council.

The customer would meet with the arbitrator at a public building in a private setting and go through the billing issue, resulting in a report.

“This gives, you know, a sense of fairness and independence, if people feel like they’re not being treated fairly by the Sewerage & Water Board,” Rainwater said.

As a last resort, the customer could appeal to the city council.

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Rainwater said he, along with fellow task force members, the utility’s executive director Ghassan Korban, and state Sen. Stephanie Hilferty (R-Metairie) — who authored the bill — met earlier Tuesday (April 16) to talk through the proposed legislation.

Rainwater said they’ll continue with weekly meetings to discuss improvements being made.

“In 12 hours of meetings, billing was discussed almost every hour,” Rainwater said. “And we had a public hearing that went for three hours, and we have 50 residents come and talk about nothing but billing.”

He said he expects the bill to pass overwhelmingly in the senate as well.

In a statement, the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans said, “We have been in constant contact with our state legislators and are committed to working with stakeholders as we participate in the legislative process and work toward meaningful change for our utility and valued customers. The Sewerage & Water Board remains focused on implementing the two largest projects our utility has rolled out in a generation: The smart metering program and the power complex, both of which will benefit New Orleans for decades to come.”

Rainwater pointed to two other bills involving the utility being considered by the legislature. One requires the reading of meters and another calls for the consolidation of cleaning and maintaining catch basins and smaller pipes by the Sewerage & Water Board, rather than the city’s Department of Public Works.

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