Attorney Says Shreveport Is Still Overbilling Water Customers

SHREVEPORT, LA - A Shreveport attorney who won millions of dollars against the city for overbilling water customers says it's happening again. Jerry Harper says he has examined thousands of water bills and the city is still not following the law.

Harper says he has notified attorneys for the city about these latest problems and he has offered to show leaders where the problem is, but he says no one from the city has reached out to him to explain what is going wrong.

Harper says:

Much of the overbilling that is happening today is occurring as a result of the failure to read meters. I don't know what percentage of meters are being read today in the city, but I am under the impression that that percentage is going down every year.

Harper says the city can estimate bills in certain circumstances and that estimate is supposed to be on the prior months bills. But he says "that ain't what's happening." He says this is leading to overbilling on sewer charges that is 2 or 3 times what is actually owed.

City Attorney Marcus Edwards says he is willing to sit down with Harper to see the details he has about suspected overbilling.

Harper also says if corrections are not made and this overbilling stopped, he would not be surprised if another class action suit is filed against the city. But he also hopes the city makes the corrections and gives the money back to customers who were overbilled.

Harper won a nearly $10 million dollar class action suit against the city back in 2021 and customers were given a refund.