Billing FAQs

Our office directly bills customers in these communities.

• Bingham Farms
• Bloomfield Hills
• Commerce Township
• Farmington Hills
• Franklin
• Highland
• Keego Harbor
• Oakland Township
• Orchard Lake
• Oxford Township – water only
• Pontiac
• Royal Oak Township
• Walled Lake
• White Lake – sewer only
• Wolverine Lake

 

Billing Community Map

There are many ways to reduce use in your daily household routines (shorter showers, less outdoor watering, etc.). You can also look for high-efficiency appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines. Older toilets generally use more water than necessary to flush. You can displace some of the water in your toilet tank by filling a half gallon jug with water and placing it in the tank. This will save you a half gallon per flush. Make sure at least 2.5 gallons remain in the tank in order for the toilet to flush properly.

Need help now? There are three programs available to help!

GLWA’s Water Residential Assistance Program

WRC’s Hardship Assistance Program in partnership with United Way for Southeastern Michigan

OLHSA’s Local Water Utility Affordability Program

If you are selling your home, your Realtor or title company should contact us at wrcstatus@oakgov.com regarding the billing history and account balance. This will allow them to prorate the next bill based on the number of days of ownership in a billing cycle. We do not take final meter readings or issue final bills.

If your name is on the bill, please note that water bills may continue to be forwarded to you based on the instructions that you provided the U.S. Post Office. Please request that service be put into "Current Resident". By doing this, the bill will not be forwarded to your new address.

If you have pre-authorized us to withdraw payments from your checking or savings account, please contact our office in writing to have this discontinued. Requests can be made on-line through wrcbilling@oakgov.com.

If you send WRC payments automatically from an online bank bill pay service, please remember to remove the WRC as a scheduled payment.

The WRC operates and bills for water and sewer services on behalf of a number of Oakland County communities. Each community has different rates and rate structures based on several factors including age of system, cost of delivery, etc.

In addition to the cost of the water itself, water and sewer rates are made up of three components – operating expenses, capital improvement expenses, and reserve contributions.

Operating expenses typically include such things as electricity consumption, chemicals used for treatment, inspections of pipes and manholes, and administrative fees.

Capital expenses include costs for replacement of pipes and mechanical equipment.

Reserve contributions are funds collected and set aside for future expenses and emergency repairs.

It is not necessary to have your name on the bill. Most of our customers are simply listed as "Current Resident" which helps to ensure the bills are received at the service address. Unlike gas and electric bills, water and sewer bills are tied to the property, not a person.

Yes. You can request a second bill copy to be mailed to a different address than the service address. This is helpful for landlords to monitor tenants bills and payment history. It is also helpful if you are going to be out of town for an extended period of time.

Contact our office to have your name and a forwarding address added to your account. You will need to call us again once you return home, in order to change the mailing address back to the service address.

If your bill shows "ME" or "CE" in the Meter Reading Code on your bill, your usage has been estimated. Please contact our office at 248-858-1110 so that we can assist in troubleshooting the problem or scheduling an appointment to evaluate the meter.

If your bill becomes 90 days or more past due, you may be subject to having your water service shut off.

If your bill becomes 180 days or more past due, you may be subject to having the balance added to your property taxes.

We will send a notice with the amount that must be paid to avoid a shutoff. Customers are required to either pay the amount in full or contact us at 248-858-1110, before the due date to set up a payment arrangement.

Struggling with water or sewer bills? Learn more about Payment Help and Assistance Programs.

If you have experienced a leak that resulted in a high-water bill, there is an adjustment consideration process based on the following criteria:

• Request must be made in writing within 90 days of discovering the leak
• Repair receipts must accompany requests
• Usage has returned to typical levels

To begin the process, complete our online Water Loss Adjustment Request Form.

Customers who have not used water must still pay a minimum charge if water service is available to the property. That's because water and sewer systems have a large proportion of fixed costs which are offset by these minimum charges. In some communities we serve, you are able to stop charges altogether by requesting your water service be shut off.

For non-residential sewer customers, industrial waste control and industrial surcharges are fees that cover the cost of compliance with National Pretreatment Standards and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) discharge permit that the Great Lakes Water Authority and wastewater treatment plants require. The charges cover the cost of compliance for this federally mandated program. Industrial waste control charges are based on the size of your meter.

Michigan law allows that unpaid water and sewer debts to be certified to the tax roll. You must pay the delinquent balance on the letter in order to avoid that balance being transferred to your property taxes. You may not enter into a payment arrangement to pay off this balance—it is due by the date on the letter.

Once the delinquent balance is transferred to your property taxes, WRC cannot receive payment to reverse the certification. You will need to contact your municipality regarding payment terms and any applicable fees/penalties.

Struggling with water or sewer bills? Learn more about Payment Help and Assistance Programs.

There are several ways to check your plumbing for a leak.

One of the most common leaks are silent toilet leaks. An easy way to check your toilets is by putting a few drops of food coloring into the tank. Do not flush. If the color begins to appear in the bowl within 15-20 minutes, you have a leak. Typically, this can be a do-it-yourself repair by replacing the flapper in the tank.

Another good way to check if you have a leak is to do an overnight meter read. Write down the reading on your meter before going to bed (make sure no water gets used overnight). Read the meter again in the morning before you use any water. If the numbers change, you may have a leak. You can also do this when you are going to be out of the house for the day.

Most of the meters in use today have a flow detector on them. On dial meters, there is a small red triangle inside a bubble located under the numbers on the meter. When you are using water, the triangle spins. If you are not running anything that uses water and the triangle is spinning, you probably have a leak. On digital meters, leak indicators show the image of a faucet. Please refer to the meter brochures that further describe the indicator. On newer dial meters, there is a small dial with a red indicator line. If the indicator line moves when you are not using water, you likely have a leak.

If you live in a home with a poorly insulated basement, crawl space, or meter closet, extremely cold weather may cause your water lines to freeze and your internal plumbing to burst. You can take several steps to minimize this risk:

• Keep areas with exposed pipes warm.
• Wrap water pipes in unheated areas with insulation.
• Winterize outdoor spigots.
• Shut your water off at the inlet valve and open a faucet to drain the line prior to leaving for extended periods.

Here is a list of the most common sources of water leaks. Regular maintenance of these items can prevent large bills and potential water damage:

• Plumbing fixtures – Check supply lines to your sinks and washing machines to ensure they are intact.
• Outdoor spigots – Make sure spigots close completely and that hoses are not dripping. Winterize spigots by shutting off supply lines in the basement.
• Sprinkler systems – Check timer boxes to ensure they are set properly, especially after power outages. Note any wet areas in the lawn. Contact your irrigation company to review the system.
• Backup sump pumps – Some backup sump pumps use water flow as a means to activate the pumping system. While this is effective in a power outage, extended outages can cause increased bills, especially if the back-up system continues to operate after the electricity is restored.
• Humidifiers – Humidifiers should be cleaned regularly and examined to ensure there isn't water leakage.
• Water softeners – Water softeners can malfunction during regeneration cycles. Check your owner's manual for maintenance requirements.

Because the water and sewer bill are tied to the property, as a property owner, you should always request your own copy of the bill regardless of who has agreed to pay the bill. Please contact us to have a second bill copy created and mailed to you.

For communities that allow water to be shut off for delinquency, the WRC has an annual review process to notify and act on a water shutoff. If a delinquent balance qualifies for a shutoff, all mailing addresses on file will receive a shut-off notice requiring action to pay the delinquency in full, or in part by entering into a payment arrangement. Payment arrangements are designed to address current charges while also addressing the arrearage. Customers who take no action will have their water shut off. Customers who enter into payment arrangements will be monitored to ensure there is no payment arrangement default.

Cash

Cash payments can be made at 7-Eleven, CVS, Family Dollar, Walmart and Walgreens locations nationwide. Click to view PayNearMe Locations. Simply take your bill to one of these retailers and have the cashier scan the barcode on the back of your bill. If you do not have your bill, we can text or email a code to your phone. Please contact us at 248-858-1110.

Credit, Debit, or Bank Transfer

To pay using you debit or credit card, eCheck, Google Pay, or Apple Pay with no additional fees you can either:

• Scan the QR Code on the back of your bill and follow the prompts or
• Click One-Time Pay to pay on multiple accounts or without login credentials or
• Click to Access Your Account and pay your bill or manage your account online

Check or Money Order

Send the payment to:

Oakland County Water Resources Billing
PO Box 773378
Detroit, MI 483277-3378

You may also drop the payment into our payment drop box at 2636 Dixie Highway, Waterford, MI 48328.

Automatic Withdrawal

To pay by automatic withdrawal from your checking or savings account, please complete the Automatic Payments Form online.

Please note that our office locations do not accept payment of any kind.

WRC will never call customers threatening to initiate a shut off and demand immediate payment. Suspicious calls from unknown phone numbers should be reported to us at 248-858-1110. Customers who call us and choose the automatic “we’ll call you back” feature when hold times are longer than expected will see a return call coming from “Oakland County 248-858-1110” with an announcement that we are returning your call.