Are the water and sewer billing records of a North Carolina municipal utility public records that anyone can inspect, or are they private customer records protected from disclosure?
Plain-English summary
Hendersonville's city attorney asked NC's AG a basic but important question: when a citizen comes to the city utility office and asks to see the water and sewer billing records of some other customer (or their own records), does the city have to hand them over? And does it matter whether the requester is the customer in question or a stranger?
Associate AG T. Brooks Skinner, Jr. and Senior Deputy AG Wanda G. Bryant answered: yes, and no. The records are public records, and the city must produce them regardless of who is asking.
The reasoning is straightforward Public Records Law application. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1 defines public records as documentary materials made or received by NC government agencies in carrying on public business. Municipal water and sewer billing records are made and received by the city utility (a government agency) in the course of running the utility (clearly a public business). They therefore fit the statutory definition. § 132-6(a) imposes the affirmative duty: every custodian of public records must allow inspection at reasonable times under reasonable supervision by any person. The opinion underscored that "any person" really means any person; the statute draws no distinction between a customer requesting their own records and a third party asking about someone else's.
The opinion confirms a 1973 AG opinion (43 A.G. Op. 274) that had reached the same conclusion for municipal records generally (budgets, bank statements, tax levies, utility accounts, minutes of meetings). The 1997 opinion notes that no subsequent statutory exemption has displaced that 1973 reading.
The result is that water bills, sewer bills, electric bills (where municipally operated), and similar utility account records are open to public inspection in NC. That may surprise customers who think of their utility bill as a private financial document. The opinion does not extend to investor-owned utilities like Duke Energy, which are not "agencies of NC government."
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1997. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here. NC's Public Records Law has been amended multiple times, including changes to electronic records provisions and additional carve-outs for some categories of personal information. There is also ongoing tension between this disclosure rule and federal/state privacy frameworks; some local governments have asked the General Assembly to narrow the access, with limited success. A current request should be evaluated against the current statutes and any local-government bills affecting it.
Background and statutory framework
NC's Public Records Law is one of the older and broader open-records statutes in the country. The statutory framework starts from a strong presumption: "the public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the people." (G.S. § 132-1(b).) The definition of "public record" in § 132-1(a) is sweeping: any documentary material, regardless of physical form, made or received by an agency in carrying on public business.
The General Assembly has enacted specific carve-outs for some categories of records: criminal investigation records (G.S. § 132-1.4), personnel records of public employees (G.S. § 126-22 through 126-24), social services records (G.S. § 108A-80), tax records (G.S. § 105-259), and similar limited exemptions. The carve-outs are listed; everything not on the list is presumptively open.
Utility billing records sit squarely in the "documentary material made or received in carrying on public business" category. There is no statutory exemption for them. The general public-business framing has produced parallel rulings on other municipal records that customers might think of as private: payroll records (subject to personnel-record limits but generally accessible), checking-account statements, vehicle registrations of municipal cars, and so on.
The opinion's third-party rule (any person, including a stranger to the account) is important in practice. Reporters investigating corruption, landlords checking on tenants' utility accounts, divorce attorneys looking for documentary evidence of where an estranged spouse was living based on water usage, and political opposition researchers all use this rule. Some of those uses sit uncomfortably with privacy norms, but the AG's reading is grounded in the statutory text.
Common questions
Can someone find out my water usage by my address?
In NC, if your water utility is operated by a city or other government agency, yes, your usage and billing records are public records open to inspection. Investor-owned utilities are governed by different rules.
What about sensitive information like Social Security numbers in the billing file?
The opinion didn't address SSNs specifically, but later NC amendments and federal law (the Privacy Act and various state-specific protections) restrict disclosure of Social Security numbers and similar sensitive identifiers. A custodian responding to a request today would likely redact such information.
Can a custodian charge for copying?
Yes. The Public Records Law allows fees for the actual cost of duplication. The custodian cannot charge for the time spent reviewing the records.
Does this opinion apply to private water companies or HOAs that own water systems?
No. The opinion only addresses utilities operated by government agencies. Private companies and homeowner associations are not subject to the Public Records Law.
Source
Citations
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6(a)
- 43 A.G. Op. 274 (1973)
Original opinion text
February 20, 1997
Mr. Samuel H. Fritschner
Hendersonville City Attorney
Whitmire and Fritschner
Post Office Box 928
Hendersonville, North Carolina 28793
Re: Advisory Opinion; N.C.G.S. § 132-6. Access to account (billing) records of customers of public utilities.
Dear Mr. Fritschner:
You have asked for an opinion on whether the billing records of public utility customers are public records pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law.
Specifically, you asked if the account records of municipal water and sewer services are "open records" subject to inspection and examination. You also asked if the answer to the previous question is the same regardless of whether the records requested to be inspected pertain to the individual [making the request] or other customers.
Public records are documentary materials that are either made or received by government agencies in North Carolina in carrying on public business. N.C.G.S. § 132-1. Every custodian of public records shall permit any record in the custodian's custody to be inspected and examined at reasonable times and under reasonable supervision by any person. N.C.G.S. § 132-6(a). The billing records of municipal water and sewer services (and other public utilities) are records made and received by government agencies and are therefore, public records. Absent a specific statutory exemption, these public records must be made available for public inspection pursuant to the Public Records Law.
A 1973 Attorney General Opinion found that municipal records and papers, such as budgets, bank statements, tax levies, utility accounts, minutes of meetings etc. were public records as contemplated by the statute. 43 A.G. Op. 274 (1973). We know of no statutory exemption which changes the validity of this opinion. We are also aware of no statutory provision which would distinguish between requests to see an individual's own records and those of other utility customers.
We hope that this fully answers your request. Should you have further questions regarding this issue, please do not hesitate to contact this office.
T. Brooks Skinner, Jr.
Associate Attorney General
Wanda G. Bryant
Senior Deputy Attorney General