Customer Census and Account Clean-Up

Run a focused exercise to identify actual users and service points, reconcile them with the billing register, and fix obvious errors such as duplicate accounts, inactive users billed by mistake, or active users missing altogether. This is often the fastest way to improve fee coverage under current rules because it starts from the service relationship the city already manages.

• Many households or firms use the service but do not receive bills.

• The current customer list is patchy, old, or split across several offices.

• Informal growth has outpaced the service register.

The city should have authority to collect and update user information for billing and service-administration purposes.

Use a short census form, route or zone sheets, and a reconciliation team that can decide quickly whether to add, merge, suspend, or correct each account found in the field.

• There is no practical definition yet of who counts as a user or service point under the current system.

• The administration cannot act on census results after the enumeration.

Run a focused exercise to identify actual users and service points, reconcile them with the billing register, and fix obvious errors such as duplicate accounts, inactive users billed by mistake, or active users missing altogether. This is often the fastest way to improve fee coverage under current rules because it starts from the service relationship the city already manages.

• Combine existing customer files, service ledgers, meter books, paper lists, and route sheets into one working list before any field exercise starts.

• Run a targeted census or account clean-up in phases, beginning with the highest-value zones, rapidly growing areas, or service areas with obvious discrepancies.

• Create or confirm one account per service point or customer relationship, and record the basic facts needed for billing and follow-up.

• Use the results to open missing accounts, close dead accounts, and plan a regular maintenance cycle rather than treating the census as a one-off.

The city should have authority to collect and update user information for billing and service-administration purposes.

Use a short census form, route or zone sheets, and a reconciliation team that can decide quickly whether to add, merge, suspend, or correct each account found in the field.

• Many households or firms use the service but do not receive bills.

• The current customer list is patchy, old, or split across several offices.

• Informal growth has outpaced the service register.

• There is no practical definition yet of who counts as a user or service point under the current system.

• The administration cannot act on census results after the enumeration.

• Do not create accounts that cannot be matched to a real service point, user, or occupancy event. Weak account creation can produce a second round of billing disputes later.

• Where households are vulnerable, explain that better coverage is about fair billing and service continuity as much as it is about revenue.