Delinquency and service protection

Understand the shut-off process before it reaches your door

The safest time to ask about a past-due balance, payment arrangement, or hardship protection is before the final notice. This page translates the provider’s published rules into a practical checklist.

Customer protection notice

Review the delinquency rules before your service is interrupted

A past-due balance can trigger fees or a shut-off process. Contact the provider promptly if a notice is incorrect, a payment is pending, or a household needs assistance.

Grace period

Bills are due within 25 days of the billing date. The City assesses a 1% per month late-payment penalty on outstanding balances after the due date.

Late charges

A 1% monthly late-payment penalty is assessed on outstanding balances. Other published account charges include a $10 connect/disconnect fee, $35 meter-set fee, returned-check charges of $25-$40 or 5% depending on check amount, and a $20 turn-off plus $20 turn-on charge for nonpayment.

Shut-off timeline

The reviewed official pages state the 25-day due period and nonpayment turn-off charge but do not publish a complete universal day-by-day calendar from missed due date to field shutoff. Account-specific notices and the current bill control; after service is turned off for nonpayment, the City charges $20 to turn off and $20 to turn on each meter.

Reconnection

$20 to turn on each meter after a nonpayment shutoff, in addition to the $20 turn-off fee and the overdue balance. The reviewed pages do not publish a separate after-hours restoration surcharge.

Notice and timing

How delinquency is handled

Grace period after the due date

Bills are due within 25 days of the billing date. The City assesses a 1% per month late-payment penalty on outstanding balances after the due date.

Late-fee calculation

Disconnection timeline

Statutory warning protocol

What notice should you expect?

The City’s payment and legal-information pages do not specify a single mandatory paper color, door hanger, call cadence, or exact notice-day sequence. Customers can use portal email/text reminders, automated phone payment, and customer service to resolve delinquency; the applicable account notice and Chapter 28 procedures govern.

If a notice seems wrong

Document the account balance, payment confirmation, notice date, and any household medical or accessibility concern. Then call the provider using the contact information on its official bill or profile before the stated deadline.

Restoring service

Reconnection costs and timing

$20 to turn on each meter after a nonpayment shutoff, in addition to the $20 turn-off fee and the overdue balance. The reviewed pages do not publish a separate after-hours restoration surcharge.

Need a payment arrangement?

Ask before the shut-off date

Tell the customer-service representative that you are responding to a delinquency notice and ask specifically about installment plans, hardship protection, charity referrals, and the amount required to stop the disconnection order.

Customer protection guide

What to do when a bill becomes urgent

A delinquency notice from City of Fort Lauderdale Water and Sewer Utility should be treated as a time-sensitive account document. Read the exact due date, amount required, notice method, and contact instructions on the notice, then compare them with the provider details in this guide.

If you have already paid, gather the confirmation number and posting date. If you cannot pay the full amount, call before the stated shut-off date and ask about arrangements, hardship protections, agency referrals, and the minimum amount needed to pause action.

Keep the conversation specific: ask what will stop the order, when the payment must post, whether a reconnection fee applies, and whether the utility requires a separate request for medical, accessibility, or household-protection status.

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