Audit: Travis Co. utility is short $1.3 million in revenue,

Western Travis County agency $1.3 million shy in wastewater revenue.

Western Travis County Public Utility Agency staff and board members say they are discovering just how drastically underbilled many of its commercial customers are for wastewater services.

The utility agency is in the midst of a monthslong audit of services provided to them by Severn Trent Services, the company that ran its operations and billing from March of 2012, when the agency was founded, until September 2014, when the agency terminated the contract. General Manager Don Rauschuber said errors found include customers being billed the incorrect amount and fees left uncollected. The audit shows $1.3 million in uncollected payments, charges and fees, Rauschuber said.

Severn Trent did not return calls seeking comment.

At the utility agency’s board meeting April 16, financial consultant Nelisa Heddin said that Severn Trent was incorrectly billing all of its commercial and retail wastewater customers.

The agency calculates wastewater charges for non-residential customers based on Living Unit Equivalents, used by the businesses on a monthly basis. Rather than charging businesses for the correct number, Heddin said, Severn Trent charged many businesses for just one Living Unit Equivalent per month.

Some businesses have never received a wastewater bill at all, she said.

Rauschuber said the public utility agency has 2,100 total wastewater customers, and 10 percent to 12 percent of them are non-residential (commercial and retail). According to the agency’s tariff, it can only back-bill customers for the previous 12 months, but some of the billing and fee errors go back to 2012, Heddin said. Heddin said she does not yet know the total extent of the billing discrepancies for non-residential wastewater customers.

“We have a very big mess in our billing system,” Heddin said. “Our customers are not being billed correctly, mostly to customer favor. In terms of direction, do we back-bill these customers, and if so, do we back-bill them for the full 12 months? ... If we back-bill, do we have a policy for a payment plan, and what do we do if they have a $30,000 bill?”

The utility agency is waiting for a response to a letter Rauschuber sent to Severn Trent more than a month ago, Rauschuber said. Within the next month or two, the board will consider whether to pursue legal action against Severn Trent, he said.

In the meantime, the agency will begin notifying businesses of the discrepancies on their water and wastewater bills.