Durham Water Management announced on Mar. 3 that a new 3.15% fee will be applied to all credit card payments beginning with April water bills. The department said the fee is necessary due to rising costs associated with processing credit card transactions, which have previously been absorbed by the utility.
The change is intended to help keep overall costs down for all customers. According to Durham Water Management, the fee will go directly to the payment processor and not to the City of Durham itself.
Customers can avoid this new charge by paying their water bills through ACH (bank draft) or by check. The department described ACH as secure, easy to set up, and a way to ensure timely payments. “Please set up ACH by March 31 to avoid the fee. We’ve created an instructional guide and a short video to guide you through setting up ACH payments on our website,” Durham Water Management said in its announcement.
For those seeking assistance, resources including an instructional guide and video are available on the department’s website. Customers with questions are encouraged to contact Durham Water Management at 919-560-1200.
The department thanked customers for helping keep costs down and emphasized that these changes are being made in response to increased expenses related to payment processing.
