polar_bear

We just got a water bill for $250, covering about a 6-week period. It said we used almost 50,000 gallons of water during this time. Since there are just two of us and a baby living in a 2-bed apartment, this clearly isn't the case.

Spoke to the water people on the phone, they said they sent someone to check on our meter as they were interested in the high usage, but there's nothing wrong with the meter. So we have to pay $250 or we get cut off.

We're going down to their office tomorrow to try and sort this out, but does anyone have any advice? Is there a rational explanation for this, e.g. a leak in the plumbing somewhere? How do we escalate this if they still want us to pay? I'm not paying $250, it's ridiculous, but we don't want to go without water either!

Adnams

Had a similar prob ourselves. Turned out the metre was dogey in the end / ground frozen so they couldnt give us a reading just an estimate based on our summer usgae when we have sprinklers on..? Yeah right. Are you sure your bill is for actual usage and not an estimate?
PS Quick letter from a lawyer sorted us out but cost the difference we would have paid for the actual water but we were sticking to our guns and it was principle.

polar_bear

It's definitely not an estimate, the bill is itemized and says we consumed 48,000 gallons of water.

Adnams

Rather step aint it? Hope it works out for you.
PS A threat of getting a lawyer involved normally gets 'em talking. And always ask to speak to a manager and take names, titles etc etc. Good luck!

coopa_troopa

Here's what you can do to check if you have a leak.

Make sure you have no water running anywhere in the apartment, and take a look at your water meter. Is the meter continuing to run while no water is running? If so, you could possibly have a "slow leak" somewhere, it could be just a "trickle" somewhere that you wouldn't notice. But over a period of 6 weeks, that slow leak will mount up.

I'm guessing you don't have an outside irrigation system since you live in an apartment? Was going to also suggest it could be a leak in the cellanoids, this is a common problem with irrigation systems and you don't notice that leak because the excess water just gets soaked up underground.

A word of caution though......water companies here tend to have the stock answer...."if it's gone through the meter, you gotta pay for it"......sucks, I know.

Good luck.

Ray

Or in Enlish ..the meter reading is prima facie evidence of consumption

But find out the last actual reading ..not an estimate ..

lapin_windstar

You're not running a car wash, are you?

(50,000 gallons is ludicrous, you can't possibly be using that much. It's also ludicrous that it costs so little).

neil

Sounds like there might be a leak or a dripping tap somewhere. Our neighbour got a $750 for one quarter last year which went back to the normal the next quarter so it didn't appear to be the meter. He never found a leak either though. Of course, he had to pay it even though it did seem a bit suspicious. It turned out another neighbour across the street had a high bill too - ours was normal though.

scrubbedexpat099

Read the meter on a daily basis, see what your current usage is.

I preume it was not exactly 48,000, the odds on it being so round a number would be very low.

My bill came with current and past usage information.

Neathborn

We must be really lucky with our water company. We had an abnormally high bill one month and the company actually contacted us to let us know and told us to check if there was a leak. Sure enough, we found the leak and fixed it and the company refunded part of the bill.

Thydney

Come on Ray English or latin?

Ray

Mix and match ...its easy for you white people

scotch03

Write to the water company telling them that all this pressure has you "chocked up" or that you aren't that "flush" to pay such a huge amount. Also make sure they know how "draining" this is on you and that you haven't got money on "tap".

Hope this helps.

Dogbyte

But he doesnt want to be 'drip' though !

Twigstar

We experienced a double increase in our water bill one month and I insisted it could not be true so they sent someone out and a tree root in side part of garden where no-one goes had cracked a pipe and water was seeping through. Paid high for a lovely bit of green patch though !!