BALTIMORE – Dedicated email addresses for questions about water bills or for financial assistance programs are just two of the ways Baltimore City Department of Public Works’ (DPW) Customer Support and Services Division is working to improve how it strives to help the City’s water consumers.

In addition to calling Customer Support at 410-396-5398, customers with questions about their bills may send specific inquiries towater.billing@baltimorecity.gov. Most questions will be handled in fewer than five business days. 

Customers residing in the City of Baltimore who wish to inquire about billing assistance – such as low income, hardship, or senior citizen programs – may seek specific answers by emailing water.programs@baltimorecity.gov. These programs include a rate reduction for qualifying senior citizens and grants for certain low-income families. In addition, some low-income customers may qualify for exemptions from certain recurring fees. 

Customers who come to the Customer Support offices in the Abel Wolman Municipal Building at 200 Holliday Street will find a new walk-in line dedicated to handling inquiries and applications related to these programs.

These service improvements come on the heels of the installation of new water meters throughout the City under DPW’s BaltiMeter program. These meters automatically take reads of water consumption every hour, and wirelessly send data to a network of collectors and on to the billing office. The result is efficient, reliable, accurate tracking of water consumption data. And with better information about consumption, customers can do more to identify and modify how they use and conserve water.

“Our customers expect and deserve good, timely information about their bills,” said DPW Director Rudy S. Chow, P.E. “Making sure that customers are never more than a phone call or email away from the information they need is a top priority of this agency.”

Citizens in need may find a variety of other assistance programs on a new City website, http://www.TaxSaleHelpBaltimore.org/. Users of the website will be able to find public and private resources for their specific needs. Resources are also explained at http://taxsale.baltimorecity.gov/.

Residents who are at least 65 years old with incomes under $25,000 are eligible for a discount of 43 percent on their water and sewer charges. Other customers may qualify for one-time credits of $179, depending on their income and size of their household. Other assistance includes waivers for the Bay Restoration and Stormwater fees, and payment plans designed to help customers who are delinquent on their payments get caught up.

Service repair plans for private water and sewer lines also remain available through HomeServe USA. The City partnered with this company in 2014 in order to offer plans that cover emergency plumbing services should the private side water or sewer lines become blocked, broken, or leak. More information about this program, including pricing, is available at www.BaltimoreServiceRepairs.com.