Issues with Gainesville residents’ stormwater and garbage bills have been fixed, according to a letter by Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) CEO Ed Bielarski.  

Incorrect bills, ranging from 5% to 50% over the actual cost, were sent in January. Bielarski said in a Thursday letter that GRU traced the cause to its dynamic scheduler and a decision made in 2023 to not send multiple bills per month.  

Bielarski said that decision caused the system to automatically prorate some components of the bill, including fixed charges like garbage and stormwater fees. Bielarski said the utility, which manages these fees from the Gainesville general government by including them in the monthly utility bill, has worked with its third-party vendor to ensure the system doesn’t repeat the mistake.  

The Gainesville City Commission discussed the problem at its Feb. 20 meeting and authorized Mayor Harvey Ward to send a letter. Bielarski said GRU staff have been in continuous communication with city staff on the issue and apologized for the inconvenience. 

“As a silver lining, we have become aware this could occur and have addressed it and other potential challenges with our bill payment vendor,” Bielarski said. “This will be important as we continue migrating to advanced metering infrastructure and providing even more transparency in utility usage and billing.” 

Bielarski said new estimates show the issues impacted 51,796 stormwater accounts, 25,274 garbage accounts and 1,498 rental lighting accounts. The total amount overcharged to customers was more than $300,000.  

Bielarski said affected customers will see discounts on either their March or April bills to make up for the overcharges. The discounts will read refuse, stormwater or rental lighting credit and show the amount taken off the bill.  

At its February meeting, GRU staff gave updates on its advanced metering infrastructure rollout. Staff said 99.5% of electric meters had already been converted along with 66% of water meters and 83% of gas meters.