ZELIENOPLE — About 9 percent of the utility bills the borough issued this month have reportedly been delivered late, not delivered at all or were delivered to the wrong address.

Other agencies and people also have reported mail problems, and they suspect the post office is to blame.

The borough has been receiving calls about the missing bills and estimates that it had problems with about 200 of the 2,200 monthly bills it sends out.

Borough manager Don Pepe told borough council Monday night that the problem appears to be with the post office, not the borough or the bulk mailing service it uses.

“It’s not on our end. We’ve checked, and we’ve double checked. It’s got to be at the post office,” Pepe said.

Tad Kelley, the post office’s media contact for Western Pennsylvania, said the Zelienople Post Office has only received three complaints in January, but postal officials are working with the borough to investigate the problem.

“The post master is contacting the borough officials to determine if there was any glitch in the mailing or accepting procedures. If any discrepancies in the processing and handling of this mail are found, corrections will be made to prevent future delays,” Kelley said.

Customers with mail delivery problems can call the Zelienople Post Office at 724-452-7410.

The bills for water and electric service are printed at the borough office and sent to Pittsburgh Mailing, a private company based in Pittsburgh, at the end of each month, said Shari Malczak, the employee who handles utility billing and payroll.

There they are stamped, addressed and mailed. Most customers receive them in the mail about five or six days into the month and must pay their bills by the 15th of the month, Malczak said.

This month the borough has received numerous calls from people who got the wrong bill, got their bill late or never received a bill.

Though customers can opt to have the charge automatically taken out of their checking accounts, every residence and business that receives service still gets a paper bill.

Fred Smallhoover, vice president of Pittsburgh Mailing, said he wouldn’t comment on the company’s operations, but said that he got a call from Zelienople and confirmed that the bills had left the company as usual.

“It’s an issue with what the postal service does, not with us,” Smallhoover said.

Zelienople is not the only agency reporting issues with the mail.

The Western Butler County Authority, which provides sewer service to Zelienople, Harmony and parts of Lancaster and Jackson townships, got six calls about missing bills in January, secretary Katie Campbell said.

The authority had been getting several calls a month for the past few months about missing bills, Campbell said.

Joan Voegtly, secretary for the Harmony water authority, said customers have called or brought in bills that are torn or crumpled up.

The problem has been going on for months, and Voegtly said a post office employee told her it was due to a malfunctioning mail sorting machine in the New Castle processing center.

The authority mails about 640 postcard bills each month to customers in the borough, she said.

The issues haven’t caused customers to pay late, but many have called to complain about the bills not being delivered or being damaged.