HSUD manager proposes plan to fix billing

Holly Springs Utility Department general manager Wayne Jones handed out a proposal to help get the customer billing cycle back on schedule at the July 1 meeting of the mayor and board.

He said he wanted to discuss some of his plan in open session but some things will, of necessity, be discussed in the executive boardroom. Jones said as a result of meetings with representatives of the Public Service Commission, Tennessee Valley Authority and others recently he has a revised 90-day plan designed to get HSUD’s billing cycle back on track. Billing is two months behind schedule.

His budget for the plan proposes to use money in certificates of deposits to bring in a contractor, purchase new trucks and hire a consultant to help get meter readings current. The proposal includes hiring a consultant to help look at local utility rates and billing and cutting rights-of-way.

Jones said HSUD has $5.1 million in CD reserves. He said he has $1.6 million in his proposed budget. He also wants to get audits of the HSUD books and performance for years 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, to meet TVA’s contractual requirements.

He said the accounting needs to be brought up to date.

“There’s no way we are going to get four years of audits in one year’s time,” he said.

Bank statements must be reconciled. Without those the audits cannot be performed, he said.

Separate audits for water, sewer, electric and gas have to be done, he said.

Then there are audits for the city which cannot be completed without the utility audits, he said.

He said the plan is being given to the board to digest.

He said in his mind, that by getting the metering caught up in 90 days, “the lawsuits will slowly fade away.”

Currently HSUD has about a dozen meter readers. They will be assigned routes and learn them.

Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones asked if the 90-day plan is a short-term fix “or is it something you plan to do long-term.”

“Short-term,” Jones said.

“Software will have to be developed.”

In the plan is a budget, and a suggested reorganization of the utility department – gas, electric, water departments and office department.

Andre Jones asked about the automated meter reading system that would read up to 8,000 to 10,000 meters monthly.

Wayne Jones said he understood that the neither the PSC, nor TVA nor the Mississippi legislature will invest funds into the utility department until the city invests funds into HSUD.

He said the meter reading system will be up within 45 days, if the consultant he asks for is hired.

He said if money is put in for a local rate raise, those funds can be earmarked for certain things – AMI systems, cutting rights-of-way. It will cost $3.5 to $4 million to get an AMI system, he said.

HSUD does not have the money to buy and AMI system right now.

“So, if we get the boots on the ground, the software, we will be able to have our cash receipts consistent,” the general manager said.

“What’s this software gonna do?” alderman-at-large Dexter Shipp asked.

“This software is going to save us time,” Wayne Jones said. “It will allow the folks who are reading the meters to input the data directly to CSA (Central Service Association).”

He said it will take time to develop the software to be used by meter readers.

He said manual input of data and reading meters by hand both add to the bottle-neck in billing which makes larger bills for customers covering as much as two months usage in one bill.

He said it costs too much to retrieve and update the Trilliant AMI system used by Genteral Electric and he has no faith in the current GE system, which would cost $2.5 million to $3 million to acquire.

“It didn’t work in the beginning and I have no faith in the Trilliant system, that GE bought,” he said.

Advanced Metering Services will go out in the field and generate a map and read meters at the same time. In 45 days, the consultant will get manual meter reading caught up and generate revenue on a consistent basis, Jones said.

Then HSUD can continue manual reading or invest in another AMI system, he said.

Mayor Charles Terry recommended the plan Jones presented be tabled to give the board time to digest the information in the plan.a