The $760 charge showed up on her utility bill in August 2021. In hindsight, Rebecca Fralin wishes she had just paid the balance and been done with it, she told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in a Feb. 19 interview. Ultimately — after over three years of “misleading” back-and-forth with the city’s Department of Public Utilities — Fralin had to pay nearly $7,000 to get her water service restored. “I think it’s taken years off my life,” she said of her experience, which coincided with a breast cancer diagnosis and her father’s need for help managing his dementia. “I’d really like to be reimbursed,” Fralin added. “That’s all I’m asking.”
Rebecca Fralin stands in the house she owns in Richmond's Montrose Heights neighborhood. She rents the house to a family friend and covers all of the utility costs. Fralin had to pay nearly $7,000 to get the water service restored after more than three years of “misleading” back-and-forth with the city’s Department of Public Utilities. It’s been over a year since
The Times-Dispatch began reporting about utility billing issues , and
two years since a report from the Office of the City Auditor identified improper utility bill estimation, aging equipment and $60 million in billing backlogs within DPU. But despite the time that has elapsed — and promises from officials to right the ship — multiple Richmond residents say not much has changed.
‘You cannot get to the right person’
Fralin’s enormous August 2021 bill was preceded by weeks of DPU work in the street outside her quaint Montrose Heights home, she said. Fralin doesn’t currently live in the house, since she’s the primary caretaker for her father, who lives in Whitestone. Instead, she rents the Richmond house to an elderly family friend and covers all of the utility costs. Because Fralin cannot currently work, the rent is her only source of income. “There was a big hole in the street in front of the house,” she recalled of that summer. “Apparently, there was a leak somewhere.” Then came the spike in her balance. So, between caring for her father and managing her own illness, Fralin found time to place a call to DPU and ask for help. “They … confirmed that the city attached the expense of the leak (fix) to my bill, that it was on city property,” Fralin said. A DPU representative explicitly told her not to pay the bill and promised the repair cost would be removed. “‘Just pay your normal rate,’” she said the DPU representative told her.
“I think it’s taken years off my life,” Rebecca Fralin said of her experience with the city's Department of Public Utilities, which coincided with a breast cancer diagnosis and her father’s need for help managing his dementia. But the next month, the charge was still there, only bigger — $824 — due to late penalties. Confused and anxious, she called DPU again. Fralin said she was told it would be several billing cycles before the charge disappeared from her balance. In the meantime, “they said ‘don’t worry, and from this point forward, just pay the current charges.’” The charge never fell off her bill. Instead, it kept going “up and up and up.” It ballooned to over $1,000. Then to over $2,000. All the while, Fralin kept calling DPU, only to be told the same thing — “don’t worry about it” — over and over. She has logs of dozens of calls, as well as the notes from those calls. “You cannot get to the right person,” Fralin said of the calls. “There is no such thing.” In September, she received a disconnection notice due to her outstanding balance. So she made the more than 1-hour trip from her father’s home in Whitestone to Richmond City Hall — twice — and paid $1,000 in exchange for DPU staffers’ promise to “put an investigative hold on the account.” Fralin said she then tried to head to the second floor and seek assistance from someone in then-Mayor Levar Stoney’s office. She was stopped by security. The next month, the water to the home was shut off. “I gave up,” Fralin said. “I had to come up with the (remaining balance).” Feeling exploited and strung along, Fralin borrowed nearly $6,000 from her partner to get service restored for her elderly tenant, who’d just undergone neck surgery and had suffered five days without water due to the cut-off. Fralin has never been refunded the total of $6,800 that she spent, she said. Asked for comment, a city spokesperson said officials cannot discuss the details of individual accounts. In a statement, a city spokesperson said that, since February 2023, DPU has "worked to stabilize customer service levels" by working through backlogs and "exploring long-term solutions such as enhanced hiring and retention practices." The steps have included "add(ing) staff resources for the DPU call center ... to assist DPU agents in answering calls and free up staff to handle more complex requests," as well as "the addition of a new tool that serves as a resource to assist in tracking customer concerns." "Customers with billing concerns are encouraged to contact DPU as 804-646-4646," the spokesperson said.
Excessive bills 'in the four digits'
Fralin is not alone. A woman who identified herself as BL and said she owns and rents out a two-unit apartment building in Richmond’s Fan District also thinks DPU owes her money. BL’s problem started in 2022, when she “started getting excessive water bills in the four digits.” “I had six months in 2022 and 2023 of estimated bills in the thousand dollars,” she said. “The usage was, like, double and triple what I’d ever had before.” BL had a plumber come out to the building and confirm there were no leaks or issues on her end. She presented the evidence to City Hall, but while the dollar amounts eventually came down, the issue persisted. For December of last year, she received a $261.75 water bill based on an actual meter reading. The next month, the bill skyrocketed to $414.39 based on an estimated reading. BL wants to know how her bill was estimated 91% higher for a billing period that included a six-day water outage. “How is it possible that I paid more when the water was out?” she said. After The Times-Dispatch reached out to city officials to inquire about BL’s account, BL got a call from DPU offering her account credits. Good thing, too, she said, because “311 never works” and,
since the city last year scrubbed an online directory listing contact information for public officials , it’s “nearly impossible” to get in touch with anyone who can help. “You wait on the phone for an hour-and-a-half, just for someone to say ‘I really don’t know,’” BL said.
Finance department also an issue
The complaints aren’t limited to DPU. Deborah Jones, a lifelong resident of South Side, said she waited 10 months to receive a personal property tax refund on her late husband’s vehicle. Jones’ husband died in March. She paid a full year’s worth of property taxes on his car, but then sold it in June, meaning the city’s Department of Finance owed her about $200, she said. Both the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and her insurance company accepted a notice of sale over the phone. But when it came to the city’s finance department, she was asked to come to City Hall with her husband’s death certificate to receive her refund. Jones brought the document to City Hall on July 11 and was instructed to wait for a check in the mail. But three months passed, and the check never arrived. Jones called the finance department to inquire about the check, but the finance employee who picked up the phone seemed confused. That was because there was no record of Jones ever visiting City Hall. “It’s the most disorganized place I’ve ever heard of in my life,” Jones said. The finance employee advised Jones to take her documents to the city’s South Side satellite social services office on Hull Street Road to spare her the trip downtown. Jones did that, and the documents were faxed over to City Hall. Months went by, but still no check. Jones kept calling and leaving messages, but no one called her back. She said she was unsurprised to hear of a recent audit, published in September, that found finance department employees had “ignored” six months worth of voicemails, 7,000 emails and over 3,000 personal property tax service requests. She finally made contact in December, only to find out her check had disappeared in the mail. The city reissued the check, and she received it in February — over 200 days after the ordeal began. “I don’t know how they get a job,” she said. “I don’t understand what qualifies them to work in the finance department.”
Updates | Coverage of Richmond water outage from The Times-Dispatch
This is continuing coverage of the water outage in the Richmond region.
Coming off a six-day water crisis, Richmond officials on Saturday morning declared the city’s water supply safe to drink, leaving restaurants, coffee shops, markets and more thrilled to get back to serving the community.
How a meager snowstorm could cripple Richmond's water supply for six calendar days is still being investigated. Here's a timeline of how the events unfolded.
Richmond was engulfed in a water crisis this week that provoked an eerie reminder of lessons learned — or not — from when Hurricane Isabel swept into Virginia in 2003.
This is updated coverage of the water outage across Richmond. The part is at least two decades old, plant staff said on Friday.
The Richmond water crisis that’s delaying the General Assembly's work has given new urgency to an issue – drinking water and water policy – that’s been simmering for years.
We're speaking to residents and business owners about how the water outage in the Richmond area has had an impact on daily lives. Tell us your information and we may contact you for an upcoming story. Some Richmond area restaurants have started to reopen, while others remained closed, waiting for the boil water advisory to be lifted. The reasons for both are complex.
Mayor Danny Avula said the failure of an automatic "switch-gear" that would've transferred the city's water treatment plant to its primary backup power source failed during Monday afternoon's blackout.
Due to the ongoing water crisis, VCU men's basketball and Richmond women's basketball played without fans on Wednesday.
In the days since the collapse of Richmond’s public drinking water utility, two separate documents have emerged that appear to indicate infrastructure problems at the city’s water treatment plant were well-known.
Richmond's water problems linger, and the repercussions are being felt in the neighboring counties of Hanover and Henrico.
And as was the case in the days of sports during COVID, the dichotomy of athletic entertainment and human suffering was laid bare.
Mayor Danny Avula said Wednesday that Richmond's boil water advisory would likely not be lifted until Friday.
“This is a great example of what RPS does for communities," said school board member Matthew Percival. "It’s not just about the schools, it’s about being the glue in the communities."
Officials stressed that the boil water advisory is a "precaution." Parts of the Henrico system were reopened to the troubled Richmond water utility Wednesday afternoon.
Some joked about not showering as others shrugged and just said stuff happens. Virginia legislators pledged to finish their work on time despite a delay caused by Richmond's water crisis.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks about the Richmond water boil advisory, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
VCU Athletics announced on Wednesday afternoon that tonight's men's basketball game against Fordham at the Siegel Center will be played without spectators due to the ongoing water outage in Richmond.
Their tractor-trailers carry 6,200 gallons. But that's only enough to supply VCU Medical Center for one hour.
House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, expects a "boring session" of the General Assembly to begin on Wednesday, but that may be wishful thinking.
County Manager John Vithoulkas: "I want to personally apologize, because I am the county manager, and the mantra is that accountability stops with leadership."
County Manager John Budesky said all addresses east of Interstate 95 should conserve water if it is available to them. A boil water advisory is in effect for those residences.
Lawmakers will meet briefly on Wednesday, the first day of the 46-day General Assembly session, then will adjourn until Monday morning, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin will deliver his State of the Commonwealth address.
Here's what residents should do next after a weather-related power failure resulted in the water level in the Richmond reservoir system to run low on Monday, triggered a boil water alert.
Richmond Sheriff's Deputies deliver water to Midtown Green, one of the city's water distribution sites, on Jan. 7, 2025.
The city of Richmond is partnering with the sheriff's office and the American Red Cross to distribute bottled water in "high priority areas — including homeless services providers, public housing, and residences that house older adults."
Mayor Danny Avula on Tuesday morning discusses the efforts of crews to repair Richmond’s water treatment plant.
The cascading series of events began early Monday morning, when a power outage brought on by snow and ice caused Richmond’s water treatment plant to flood, taking the system offline.
Officials on Monday afternoon issued a boil advisory and "strongly encourage(d)" Richmond residents to "limit water usage" after a power outage impacted the city's water utilities, leading to widespread outages.
Officials have announced bill and tax payment deadline extensions for residents and business owners in the wake of the city's six-day water crisis.
As restaurants in the Richmond area reopened through the weekend and into this week, owners are tallying up what they lost last week due to the shutdown.
Framed by sharp criticism of Richmond for last week’s water crisis, Senate Republicans want to require a director of water utilities to have a professional qualification, most likely an engineering degree.
"There probably are other skills that have emerged as what we need in terms of oversight at the water treatment plant," the mayor said.
Hanover wanted to become less reliant on other localities to meet its water demands. One of its plans was ultimately deemed to expensive, while another was fought off by county residents.
Records show officials in 2017 declined two bids from contractors who offered
to upgrade the water treatment plant’s switchgear — the component that failed during a power outage on Jan. 6.
More at richmond.com
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