April 1, 2026 – Important Update for Credit Card AutoPay Customers

 

SJWD Water District has officially transitioned to SmartPay as of April 1, 2026.

 

If you currently use a credit card for AutoPay, you will need to re-enroll your card in the new system to ensure your automatic payments continue without interruption. Please follow the below link for a step-by-step guide to complete the process.

 

Step-by-step Guide: https://www.sjwd.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Updated-Smart-Pay-Guide.pdf

 

Customers who currently pay by ACH or check do not need to take any action. Those payment methods will remain unchanged.

 

Why is re-enrollment required?

For security purposes, SJWD Water District does not store credit card numbers. Instead, our payment processor provides us with encrypted payment “tokens” that allow transactions to be processed securely. Because each payment processor creates and manages its own unique encrypted identifiers, those tokens cannot be transferred from one system to another. As a result, SJWD is unable to move existing credit card AutoPay information into SmartPay. This process is necessary to comply with strict security standards and to help protect your payment data.

We understand this additional step may be inconvenient, and we appreciate your understanding during this transition. This change was made in response to customer feedback as SJWD works to improve the billing experience and offer more convenient, user-friendly payment options.