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JXN Water will implement tiered billing system, rate increases

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by
Will Stribling
• Published on • Last modified on • Comments
Ted Henifin, interim third-party manager for JXN Water, the water system for the city of Jackson, Miss., explains his proposal for a slight rate increase Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, during a news conference in Jackson. Henifin believes the proposal, includes what might be a national first proposal to reduce water bills for low-income people.
 (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
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Residents of Jackson will soon be under a new tiered water and sewer billing system. The system, which will be implemented at the beginning of next year, will see rates increase for most residents and businesses, but lower them for people with low incomes. 

Will Stribling

JXN Water will implement tiered billing system, rate increases

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The new billing system will see water and sewer bills increase by 13% for the vast majority of customers, while the heaviest users of the system will see a 62% increase. 

Ted Henifin, the federally appointed manager of Jackson's water and sewage systems, says the rate increases are needed so JXN Water can continue to fund much-needed improvements and repairs. 

“We’re all in this together, that’s really the message,” Henifin said. “There will be some people who see their bills go up, there will be some people who see their bills go down. At the end of the day, we need to pay for water. It’s valuable.”

A new billing tier is also being created for the 12,875 customers who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, who will see their bills drop by 31%.

Henifin says the new tier for SNAP recipients is the first of its kind in the country. Around a quarter of the city’s water customers fall into that category.

Henifin says making water bills more affordable for low-income Jacksonians will hopefully help avoid a cycle of nonpayment they have seen in the past.

“If the bill is not affordable, we'll get back in the same spiral we were in before where people just can't pay their bill, we shut them off, they work around it,” Henifin said, “It creates a real stress on the community. “

JXN Water will begin shutting off water service for people not paying their bills at the beginning of next year, Henefin warned. He also said there are around 5,000 properties currently receiving water service without an account. JXN Water will pursue back payments from those people, Henefin said.

The billing system plan will go before the Jackson’s City Council this month for approval. But JXN Water can implement it even if the council opposes it under authority granted to the corporation by a federal court last year.