[Bug/Support] Tier 3-eligible billing account stuck on Tier 1 — $250 cap hit, all linked projects paused

Gemini API
,
1

Hi Gemini API team,

Our billing account has been incorrectly downgraded to Tier 1 and has now hit the
$250 tier cap, pausing the Gemini API across all linked production projects.

Billing account ID: 0194E7-5B4739-BF45..
Example affected project number: 5910439756..
Billing plan: Postpay
Date noticed: July 17, 2026

What the AI Studio Billing page currently shows:

  • Banner: “You have reached your billing account tier limit and the service has
    been paused.”
  • Tier: “Paid 1” — 218.82 EUR (~$250) against the billing account tier limit
  • Last payment: July 1, 2026 — 1,454.17 EUR, successful
  • Current period (Jul 1-17) accrued: 354.20 EUR
  • No overdue balance, no declined payments, no expired payment method
  • No automated flag banner shown on either the Projects page or the Billing page

Why we believe this is incorrect:
Per the documented tier qualification criteria (Tier 3 = $1,000 paid + 30 days
from first successful payment), this billing account should be on Tier 3. It has
a months-long payment history with no interruptions, including a successful
1,454.17 EUR payment on July 1. We made no configuration changes and received no
notification of any downgrade.

Impact:
All projects linked to this billing account are paused. Because the tier cap is
enforced at the billing account level and aggregated across all linked projects,
our accrued spend for July already exceeds the Tier 1 cap, so the service will
remain paused until the next billing cycle (August 1) unless the tier is restored.

Requests:

  1. Please restore this billing account to its correct tier (Tier 3).
  2. Please confirm whether an automated flag was applied to this account, and if
    so, what triggered it — we see no banner or callout indicating one.
  3. Please advise what we can do to prevent a recurrence, as this appears to be a
    recurring issue across many accounts since March 2026.

I can provide the full billing account ID and project numbers via DM.

Thanks in advance.

2

@Pooja_Kapse — I can see you’ve been helping with several identical Tier 1
downgrade reports, so apologies for the direct ping.

I’m unable to send DMs (my account is too new to have the option). Could you
message me instead? I have the full billing account ID and all 39 affected
project numbers ready to share privately.

Summary: billing account on Postpay, 1,454.17 EUR paid successfully on July 1,
which per the documented criteria ($1,000 + 30 days) should put us on Tier 3.
Instead the account shows “Paid 1” and has hit the ~$250 cap, so the API is
paused across every linked project until August 1 unless the tier is restored.
No billing issues and no flag banner anywhere.

Thanks a lot.