Customers are getting better service from the City, thanks to significant improvements by the Public Utilities Department (PUD), which has been working over the past several years to ensure customers get the support they need. Through investments in technology upgrades, as well as staff support and new training opportunities, customer call wait times have dropped to record lows and billing performance has improved significantly. 

• Over the past year, customer call wait times have dropped by 92%, from an average of 33 minutes, 44 seconds to one minute, 53 seconds.  

• From March 2024 to March 2025, there was a 90% reduction in the held bill backlog. The number of held bills fell from 22,627 to 2,411.  The bill backlog is now less than one percent of overall accounts and most held bills are less than six months old. 

• The average processing time for many customer requests, like account updates and move requests, is less than one day. 

Customer satisfaction is high with PUD customers. According to post-service call surveys, 85% of customers are very satisfied or satisfied with the department’s level of service. 87% of responders reported that their issue was fully resolved during the call. 

A team of more than 100 employees currently work to help customers via phone, email, and web requests, resolve billing issues, analyze billing performance and train customer service employees. PUD has been working to improve its customer service experience since a 2018 audit and 2019 internal assessment identified several key challenges, including outdated call center technology, inefficient processes and inadequate training for employees. All the audit recommendations have since been implemented. 

In recent years, the Public Utilities Department has dramatically improved its ability to fill vacant positions and continues to hire for new positions in the Customer Support Division, including customer service representatives. Thanks to pay increases, the return of pension benefits and Mayor Todd Gloria's commitment to filling vacancies, the City has been able to grow the PUD team and improve operations. 

Looking ahead, PUD will build on the improvements with a pilot program aimed at improving quality of service, improve functionality of the department’s MyWaterSD portal and continue trainings for customer service employees. 

For more information, visit the Public Utilities Customer Service webpage.