Christmas Eve in Banning: Neighbors, City leaders, work through utility billing confusion together

BANNING, Calif. (KESQ) On Christmas Eve in Banning, holiday decorations line streets and front yards, but for many residents, questions about their utility bills remain top of mind.

Utility statements that should have arrived months ago are now landing all at once, and for thousands of households, the totals feel overwhelming.

“Yes, it’s affecting everyone,” said Banning resident Udo Rollberg. “People are angry, frustrated, and rightfully so.”

City officials say the issue traces back to a failed utility billing software rollout last year. Bills stopped going out, but water and electric usage continued to accumulate. When the city reverted to its previous system, those delayed charges began appearing in chunks rather than month by month.

Mayor Richard Royce said the size of some bills has caused unnecessary alarm.

“People think that when they see a three-thousand-dollar bill, we want it right now, and that is not the case,” Royce said.

According to the city, more than 11,000 utility accounts are currently behind. That includes the mayor himself, who says he began asking questions about the billing system even before officially taking office.

“My first order of business, I walked right into the utility,” Royce said. “I was asking about this before I took office because I myself got a bill for two months before I took office, and I asked why.”

City leaders say late fees have been waived, service shutoffs are paused, and staff are manually working through the backlog of accounts. Payment plan options, including low or no interest plans, are being explored.

For residents like Rollberg and his neighbor Oscar Garcia, the financial stress is real, especially during the holidays. But both say there is also a strong sense that the problem is shared citywide.

“When people get these bills, it creates anxiety,” Rollberg said. “People are like, am I going to buy groceries, or am I going to pay my bills?”

Garcia said communication could have been clearer early on, but he believes some city leaders are now making an effort to address the situation.

“I would say that some people are making an honest effort to work on the problem and address the concerns,” Garcia said. “This affects everybody.”

On Christmas Eve, the mayor said his focus was on listening and reassurance.

“We’re all in this together,” Royce said. “We are 100 percent listening, and we’re not putting any of the fault on the public. We’re taking full responsibility, and we’re dealing with it.”

For neighbors across Banning, the frustration remains, but so does a sense of community.

On Christmas Eve, the message echoed by both residents and city leaders was simple: the problem belongs to the whole city, and so does the solution.