KC Water gives customers inconsistent, confusing & inaccurate information, audit finds
KC Water customers facing startlingly high bills are left with inadequate, hard-to-access and inaccurate resources, a new report from the city auditor’s office found.
Residents who complained to the auditor’s office about having a hard time resolving mysteriously high bills from KC Water because of unexpectedly high water use prompted the audit.
In recent months, The Star has also heard from numerous KC Water customers who have received abnormally high water usage readings and have had trouble resolving them with the department.
One customer, Waldo resident Kelly Powell, was issued a charge for over $12,400 before The Star inquired on her behalf. KC Water initially told her the amount was a “back-bill” for 16 months of underestimates due to the department’s own faulty equipment.
Another customer, Linwood United Church treasurer Ron Carter, was charged for more than triple his church’s typical water usage for months in a row, despite hiring inspectors to confirm there were no leaks in the building.
Both Powell and Carter said they had frustrating experiences talking with KC Water customer service representatives who were not able to explain their cases.
“Water Services’ management should improve resources available for customers to understand and address unexpected high water use,” city auditors wrote in a summary of the report.
Auditors looked into how KC Water handles cases when a customer gets an abnormally high water usage reading but isn’t aware of using more water than usual. These readings can be caused by leaks in the home, water meter failure, water theft, an increase in water use or other mechanical failures.
The report did not discuss the causes of high water readings — although a 2019 audit by the department found that around 19% of new water meters failed the department’s accuracy testing, but were installed in customers’ homes anyway.
Instead, it examined the three resources KC Water provides to customers to help address high water use readings: customer service representatives, the KC Water website and the department’s email and text notification system.
“The whole focus of this one was just the customer resources,” city auditor Doug Jones told The Star. “There are other things we chose not to look at, and could in the future.”
Customer service reps unable to explain high water usage
When customers call KC Water to try to resolve surprisingly high water bills, representatives often struggle to help — offering inconsistent or insufficient information about the possible causes of high water use readings. According to the audit report, this causes customers to question if the department itself is at fault for the high readings.
Representatives often failed to explain that leaks are a major cause of high readings, and failed to give customers advice about how to identify leaks in their home or fix leaks themselves. And the representatives gave different reasons to different customers about why they could or couldn’t send out a KC Water technician to assist.
The audit also found that customers received inconsistent advice about when to hire a plumber to inspect leaks, and little to no information about how to tell if a faulty water meter is to blame for high water use readings.
Auditors said that the inconsistent or absent information caused customers to think the department isn’t taking responsibility for its own errors.
KC Water staff not being trained to handle questions
When city auditors listened in on 22 calls about high water use and reviewed the department’s training materials, they found that the guidance available to customer service representatives was lacking. This then affected the advice representatives could give customers.
For example, KC Water’s training materials instruct employees to never tell customers to hire a plumber. Instead, employees should refer customers to a “Water Leak / Detection Checklist.” However, auditors were not able to find this checklist anywhere. It wasn’t in the employees’ training materials or on the department’s website.
Despite the department’s policy, the audit shows that several customer service representatives told customers to hire plumbers to check for leaks in their home. Multiple customers who have spoken with The Star about their own high water bills say they were given this advice as well.
Jones and auditor Sue Polys, who worked on the report, said that representatives were unfailingly professional when dealing with irate customers, even when they couldn’t provide correct guidance.
Late and inaccurate notifications, and website without needed information
Auditors found that KC Water’s website left a lot to be desired for customers who try to find information about high water use on their own.
The site lacks important information on what customers can do about high water use readings, and email notifications sent to customers about high water use were often inaccurate.
Information about how to identify underground leaks, what to do about unexplained spikes in water usage and the department’s policies around sending a service technician to assess the problem were nowhere to be found on KC Water’s website. Other helpful information was difficult to find too, according to the audit.
“One of the best sources of water leak information, a March 14, 2016 press release, can only easily be found by using the search bar,” auditors wrote. “Information about leaks is not placed intuitively for some customers or grouped together in one logical place.”
The audit found that high water use notices were also not sent in a timely fashion — and sometimes weren’t sent at all. There were multiple weeks-long stretches in 2022 when the department sent out zero email notifications to customers. And text notifications weren’t being sent at all when auditors checked in.
“Water Services is not performing oversight of the notification system to ensure it is working properly,” auditors wrote. “The text option was not working when we asked for text notices documentation.”
When notices were sent, the department’s email notification system delivered inaccurate notices to customers about increases in their water use, often underestimating or downplaying the increase in use that would later appear on customers’ bills.
The program is intended to help customers avoid the surprise of a high water bill, but errors in the system often sabotaged this goal.
“Water Services sent notifications to customers that incorrectly described a 150% water use increase as 1.5%, a 250% increase as a 2.5% increase, and a 400% increase as a 4% increase,” the audit found.
“Because the percentage increases stated in the notifications were so small, the notifications were unlikely to prompt customers to investigate their water use before they received high bills.”
Changes coming to KC Water?
KC Water agreed with most of the auditors’ recommendations, saying that some materials like a leak checklist and guidance on when to send out a technician already exist.
The department pledged to implement many of the suggested improvements for training customer service representatives by the end of May. It also said it is reviewing its career path options for these employees, even though this was not among the audit’s recommendations.
“Another layer of career advancement would allow for our call center employees to continue to provide exceptional service and break the cycle of turnover and retraining the Department experiences now,” KC Water wrote in its response.
The department agreed with the audit’s recommendation to update the information on its website, saying it will do so this month. It also agreed to make improvements to its notification system in the next 90 days.
Auditors won’t check in on the department’s progress for another six months — but The Star will follow up and see whether KC Water meets its stated goals.
Do you have more questions about water service in Kansas City? Have you received a high water bill that you think is incorrect? Let the Service Journalism team know at kcq@kcstar.com.
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