Officials at Baltimore City’s Department of Public Works noticed an error in their system that incorrectly sent out 566 water bills to customers earlier in the week.

The erroneous bills were for more than $50,000. DPW attributes the issue to an update in their billing software system.

Rudolph Chow, director of the department, said in a statement yesterday, "This is not acceptable, and I am insisting we strengthen our billing safeguards.”

Chow also directed his staff to send letters and call customers impacted to reassure them that the error would not cost them more.

The incident comes after the end of the year billing in which customers saw their rates skyrocket. The automated billing system was implemented October 2016 and an audit of water bills has not been done since 2012.