It appears some Westside residents are paying their utility bills to the wrong organizations.

According to Westside Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Pat Leitch, a lot of utility payments are still being made in error since the change-over from Regional District to Westside for utility billing.

"Payments will be returned to the customer, but there may be a delay and with Westside utility payments due in two weeks, we are concerned customer will be paying late because of payment errors," says Leitch.

"Customers think their payment is going through using old setups, but the Regional District of Central Okanagan is no longer set up to accept these payments and they will be returned. The process can take several weeks."

Leitch says both the Regional District and Westbank Irrigation District have reported receiving payments in error.

"All Westside District utility payments must be made to Westside District Municipality."

This can be done online by searching for the payee using “Westside” to find Westside, District of – Utilities. (Some banks may have other variations of this, but “Westside” will find the name.)

All cheques must be made payable to the District of Westside and can be mailed or dropped off to #4 – 2466 Main Street, Westbank, BC V4T 1Z1.

Leitch says letters were sent to utility customers in October, advising that they needed to change the payee through online or telephone banking.

Customers with Westbank and Lakeview Irrigation Districts will continue to pay those bills directly to those organizations.