Western Municipal Water District

Outreach Options

In addition to a Proposition 218 hearing, WMWD did extensive outreach to customers to educate them about the new rate structure. This included public workshops, mailers, employee outreach and employee training, customer budget estimates and examples, and examples of variances.

In order to implement budgets, WMWD changed its billing system, trained its existing Customer Service staff, and hired temporary staff to answer the questions that always arise from the introduction of a major rate structure change. See WMWD’s customer service representative training reference guide.

WMWD provides support for customers through Customer Service contacts, Water Use Efficiency Specialist contacts, and free landscape evaluations through a WMWD contracted vendor. Customers are asked to submit a request for variance if their initially estimated square footage is incorrect and customers can request an irrigated area measurement as part of a landscape evaluation. WMWD is also building a Customer Portal that will help empower customers by providing them with additional information about their water budgets such as historical use and an estimate of future budgets.