I've lived in the same house my entire life, and for that period have been served by the city.
Electric outages are very, very rare and when they do happen they're fixed lightning-fast. Water has been generally good, except for occasional turbidity which they are now working to eliminate. Trash pickup is so regular you could almost set your clock by it (no, really).
I have always considered the amount charged to be an absolute bargain. So for a couple of months this year the bills were higher due to things totally out of the city's control:
1) ERCOT tried to rape the city with an unannounced and unexpected 7-figure bill for congestion charges
2) Natural gas was at an all-time high
3) It was summer, when bills are highest anyway
This trifecta of awfulness meant that for a couple of months the bills were high(er). But really, how high is high?
My normal summer bill was about $275 or so. This year I hit $330. Whoop-de-doo. I speak to friends who live in Dallas or Tarrant counties, and their bills are stunning. $330 as a high point for electric, water, wastewater, and trash all rolled together? I'll take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Now the winter bills are back down in the sub-$100 range. Folks, that's an incredible value.
Now, if I could just get them to start putting the lines underground like God intended...
As a side note, it's too bad Jennifer Fadden had to get the blame for the electric issue. She was a very good manager and completely not to blame. There was no justification whatsoever for her gracious resignation offer being accepted. She was allowed to be a scapegoat for the folks who were reluctant to stand up and face the heat head-on. 'Nuff said.
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