Almost 5,000 South Bend households will receive relief on utility bills

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The City of South Bend will relieve overdue utility bills for 4,957 area households with funds from utility assistance programs.

This relief helps cover overdue charges for water, sewer and solid waste services for eligible households that had late payments standing as of Monday.

One South Bend official noted that the expansion of these assistance programs will be a critical move to help financially support thousands of South Bend households.

“We continue to expand opportunities to assist customers with the Utility Assistance Program and the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program. These ongoing programs will help customers reduce their monthly financial burden even further,” said Director of Public Works Eric Horvath.

The relief for this round of assistance will forgive up to $2,500 in overdue payments per household. Each eligible household will receive $631 of relief on average.

"This is something that's going to go in automatically, so residents don't have to do anything for this to take place. We know the back log of bills and that's what we're going to be processing through the next month,” said South Bend Mayor James Mueller.

Assisted households will see this round of relief reflected on their March or April utility bill.

The City of South Bend will resume water shutoffs for missed payments in June.