In advance of the work being done, you may wish to fill a few sanitary containers and pitchers with water for drinking purposes. Filling a bucket or your bathtub with water can be useful for household purposes such as toilet flushing. After this work has been completed and water service has been restored to your home, as a precaution we advise before using water inside, please run your outside hose bib until the water is clear. This is to prevent any discolored water from entering your faucets and fixtures and to evacuate air from your service line.

Cal Water’s bills feature an easy-to-read account summary, usage history graph to help customers keep track of consumption, detailed description of charges, a place for important messages, and meter information.

A sample bill is below.

A CCF is 748 gallons (one-hundred cubic-feet) of water. This is the unit of measure used on your water bill.

A kilogallon is 1,000 gallons.

Cal Water accepts the following forms of payment:

• Cash, checks, money orders, credit card payments made over the phone.
• Electronic payments made through banks or online services like those offered by Yahoo! and Microsoft.
• Payments made through Automatic Payment Service. Customers also have the ability to manage their accounts 24 hours per day, seven days per week, online through electronic bill presentment, payment, and document management. The online bill pay feature supports payments from your bank account or by using a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card, or Discover. Customers have the capability to setup their own recurring payment options and threshold payment limits.

Use the Contact Us page to either send Customer Service an e-mail or find the phone number of your local Customer Center.

Cal Water offers a Customer Assistance Program (CAP — formerly LIRA) to customers who meet income guidelines. Qualifying customers receive a discount on their monthly service charge. You can visit the CAP page to see if you qualify and download an application form. If you live in a single-family residence, you can also apply online.

Delinquent Accounts

Upon a bill becoming delinquent, California Water Service (Cal Water) shall give the person or entity responsible for payment of the bill (hereinafter referred to as “customer”) a notice of delinquency stating that water service will be discontinued after 60 days. The delinquent notice will be mailed to the mailing address designated on the account. If the mailing address and the address of the property to which water service is provided are different, a second notice will be mailed to the service address and addressed to “Occupant.”

Alternative Payment Arrangements or Extensions

Any customer who is unable to pay for water service within the normal payment period may request an alternative payment arrangement or extension to avoid disruption of service. Options include splitting payments (payment arrangements) for up to six months to pay off the full balance and deferring payments (payment extensions) of the full balance for up to two weeks beyond the due date. Additionally, Cal Water offers a Customer Assistance Program (CAP, formerly LIRA), which provides reduced service charges for those who meet maximum income requirements.

Additional Assistance

Although some customers simply forget to pay their bill, others have difficulty making ends meet. There may be non-profit organizations in your area that can help. In addition, Cal Water offers a CAP for qualified customers.

Please contact your Customer Center (using the Contact Us form or by phone) if you dispute your bill or would like to discuss payment options. If you are not satisfied with Cal Water’s response, submit a complaint to the California Public Utilities Commission by visiting www.cpuc.ca.gov. Billing and service complaints are handled by the CPUC’s Consumer Affairs Branch (CAB), which can be reached at (800) 649-7570, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, if you prefer not to submit your complaint online.

If you have limitations hearing or speaking, dial 711 to reach the California Relay Service, which is for those needing direct assistance relaying telephone conversations, as well their friends, family, and business contacts. If you prefer having your calls immediately answered in your mode of communication, dial one of the toll-free, language-specific numbers below to be routed to the California Relay Service provider.

Notice to Tenants or Occupants

Cal Water will make a reasonable, good faith effort to inform the occupants, by means of written notice, when the water service account is in arrears and subject to disconnection at least 10 days before water service is shut off. The written notice will advise the tenants/occupants that they have the right to become customers of Cal Water without being required to pay the amount due on the delinquent account, as long as they are willing to assume financial responsibility for subsequent charges for water service at that address.

Final Disconnection Notice

Failure to comply with the terms of an amortization plan for 60 days or more, or failure to pay current residential service charges for 60 days or more, will result in the issuance of a final disconnection notice. The final disconnection notice will be in the form of a door hanger delivered to the premises no less than 5 business days in advance of discontinuance of service.

Restoration of Service

In order to resume or continue service that has been disconnected for non-payment, the customer must pay a re-establishment fee of $50 during business hours and $90 after normal business hours. Payment options are listed below.

• First option: full balance due
• Second option: past-due amount
• Third option: severance amount due, with payment arrangements
• Fourth option: payment arrangement

Download

For your convenience, the disconnection policy is also available in a variety of languages as a downloadable PDF:

• English
• Chinese
• Korean
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Vietnamese