Last year, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) launched its new payment plan, dubbed EasyPay, with a goal of enrolling 30,000 Detroit residents, businesses, and nonprofits behind on their water bills. Two months ahead of the one-year anniversary DWSD has surpassed its goal, enrolling 34,736 accounts that are protected from service interruption as long as they remain current on monthly payments.
“EasyPay was created to help those who can afford to pay their water bills but maybe at some point in time life got in the way and they fell behind,” said DWSD Director Gary Brown. “Since launching EasyPay, our data shows that the average arrearage per household is $1,900, but all they need is $10 to get into the plan.”
Initiating EasyPay has resulted in a 67% success rate of residents currently enrolled compared to the previous plan which was below 25%. Residents enrolled and current on their bill are debt-free in 36 months, some even sooner depending on their payments.
How EasyPay works
DWSD EasyPay is easy to enroll in and easy to understand. For example, an average water and sewerage bill for a family of three is $88 a month, with an average past due balance of $1,240. Once this family enrolls into EasyPay, they will pay $10 the first month, $34.17 will be their monthly installment for their past due balance the second month plus their current water bill. The following months will continue to be $34.17 for their monthly installment plus their current bill for the month.
How to sign up
To enroll in the new DWSD EasyPay Plan, call 313-267-8000 and say “Easy Pay” or enroll through the DWSD Customer Self-Service Portal at csportal.detroitmi.gov.
To hear EasyPay explained, check out this 30-second video: https://youtu.be/gvJk6AvwWM4 or
Brown added, “When we resumed water shutoffs after the moratorium was lifted in 2023, we wanted to ensure that any account behind on their bill had an option to get back on track and avoid a service interruption. We are doing that with EasyPay.”
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About the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) delivers clean water and collects sanitary sewage and stormwater from more than 230,000 accounts, representing a residential population of nearly 630,000. DWSD’s water system consists of more than 2,700 miles of water main and 29,000-plus fire hydrants, and the combined sewer collection system has nearly 3,000 miles of sewer piping, more than 90,000 catch basins and 19 green stormwater infrastructure projects within the city of Detroit. Since June 2019, DWSD has committed $100 million per year to begin to address the aging infrastructure, including replacing lead service lines. To learn more about DWSD or to request water services, make payments, apply for affordability programs, or report water or sewer emergencies, call DWSD Customer Service at 313-267-8000, use the Improve Detroit mobile app, or visit www.detroitmi.gov/dwsd.
- 34,736 residents, businesses, and nonprofits are enrolled in the EasyPay payment plan compared to about 2,500 in the previous plan
- 67% of enrollees are compliant as they work toward full payment in 36 months
- A few hundred accounts are added each week to the plan
