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As Mountain Water moved into the city’s possession early this summer, there were few hiccups. But the temporary absence of one bill payment option will affect around 4,200 customers.

The direct debit (or auto pay) option won’t be available for bill payers until the second week of September, requiring Missoula Water customers to use the online payment system or pay in person.

“It disappeared on June 22 when we acquired the utility,” city communications director Ginny Merriam said. “We were able to maintain all of the different options for billing, except for that one.”

The issue arose only with the direct debit and was due to several issues; the main being transferring the thousands of account numbers to a new bank, as well as technical issues setting up the city’s new payment software.

Direct debit used to go into Liberty Utilities’ parent company’s bank, Merriam said, and before Missoula could change the depositing account, they needed their own billing software set up. That switch started Monday, Aug. 28, and will take one to two weeks to finalize.

The auto pay delay affects around 4,200 customers, according to Merriam, out of the 25,000 that use Missoula Water.