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

17 days after the bill date; the rules state accounts are due within seventeen days and a late charge applies if payment is not received within that period.

Late charges

The published Hammond rate schedule states a late charge of 10% of the first $3.00 plus 3% of amounts over $3.00. Bad checks incur $10. The payment page instructs customers to contact Customer Service when an account is delinquent.

Shut-off timeline

The rules state that if water charges remain unpaid for at least 30 days, service may be discontinued after written notice. The account must be paid in full and comply with the rules before restoration. A qualifying medical statement can postpone disconnection for ten days, with one additional ten-day postponement upon a second medical statement.

Reconnection

Reconnection for nonpayment or rule violation is $50 when the buffalo box is installed and accessible, or $200 when it is not installed or inaccessible. Illegal customer turn-on is $50. No separate after-hours reconnection surcharge is published; customer service operates Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Notice and timing

How delinquency is handled

Grace period after the due date

17 days after the bill date; the rules state accounts are due within seventeen days and a late charge applies if payment is not received within that period.

Late-fee calculation

Disconnection timeline

Statutory warning protocol

What notice should you expect?

Hammond’s rules require written notice before nonpayment discontinuation and provide a medical-hardship postponement process. The reviewed materials do not specify automated calls, SMS, colored paper notices, or door hangers; customers should contact 219-853-6421 when a shutoff notice is received.

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

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 Hammond Water Works Department 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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