DeKalb County, GA — DeKalb County quietly rolled out a new water billing system, and it caught many customers off guard.

The county announced the new system on Jan. 23 via Facebook. The new billing system is called enQuesta. The post received numerous questions from frustrated customers.

Following questions from Decaturish, the county on Jan. 29 released more details about the new water billing process. Importantly, the county confirmed it will waive late fees for any customers who couldn’t pay because they had trouble with the new system. Here’s the full announcement:

DeKalb County has launched a new, modern customer water billing system.

With the new implementation, customers will need to register for the new customer payment portal with their new account number at:  myaccount.dekalbcountyga.gov.   An added benefit of the new system is that there are no customer fees for submitting payments online or via phone. New water bills include the updated account numbers and payment instructions.

New water billing account numbers are also being mailed to all water customers. Customers who were registered for the previous portal will receive an email from Invoice Cloud ([email protected]) containing their new account numbers.

If customers wish to obtain their new water billing account number prior to receiving it via mail or email, they can request their new account number by email at [email protected] or by calling 404-378-4475 and pressing 1 to go directly to the new account number phone lines.  

Because phone wait times are longer than usual, it is recommended that customers request water billing account numbers via email.   Customers currently enrolled in the paperless billing will need to enroll again to access the new portal.

Customers enrolled in ACH payments will need to notify their banking institution to allow the new payment processor, Chase Payment Tech. The county will waive late fees for customers who have difficulty accessing the system due to the new account numbers.

In their November, December and January water bills, all water customers were notified of the new system and that account numbers would be changing.

For information about this new system, visit www.dekalbcountyga.gov/newbilling or call 404-378-4475. 

Water and sewer services aren’t the only bills affected by the change. The bills will also change for people who use commercial sanitation services, aviation services and human services provided by DeKalb County.

The new billing system will also affect customers on a payment plan.

A copy of the new bill that was forwarded to Decaturish says, “Please be advised we are moving to a new billing system. As a result, all DELINQUENT Installment Plan Agreements will be CANCELED effective JANUARY 16, 2024.”

The lack of communication around the roll-out of the new water billing system is notable given past controversies involving DeKalb County billing. One of the first things CEO Michael Thurmond did after being sworn in back in 2017 was to address many of the long-standing issues with water billing, which ranged from people getting bills for eye-popping amounts of money to people not getting a bill at all for months at a time, only to be hit up later for failing to pay.

Thurmond called his initiative the New Day Project. In 2019, the county began replacing more than 100,000 water meters that were aging and possibly defective.

During that process, the county made a point of prioritizing communication with customers.

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