Do you have a water meter?

[vampirechick]

I work at our city water company. We have a monthly billing fee, sewer fee, garbage fee, and stormwater maintenance fee each month on bills, the minimum amt due before any usage is 27.39. We don't bill by gallons but by unit (748 gallons) and you are only billed for a unit of water once you have used the entire unit. So water usage is based on your own comsumption but sewer usage is based on how much water you used. As for watering lawns if you have a separate meter installed for sprinkler system then you are only charged water usage and no sewer fees. We bill each month and won't disconnect you unless you are almost 3 months behind.

 

[JB2K]

I live in one of those states that is serviced by (insert state name here) American Water -- as they use meters in my state, I suspect they do in their other service areas, such as New Jersey (which is their corporate HQ).

As for the sewer, that is billed seperately by my local municipality, who gets their data from American Water.

The nice thing about American Water is you can view/pay your monthly bill online, which means one less bill to clutter the mailbox.

 

[magik]

That happened to us too, we asked the water company if we could have a discount since it was a broken pipe and we'd lived in the house less than 6 months, they said nope.....lol

Fortunately, I was allowed a one time "leak adjustment" to my water bill, and they adjusted it to my normal amount. If I had had to pay a $7000 water bill on top of paying thousands of dollars to actually get the water main leak fixed, I don't know if I would have been able to handle it. My water bill was so high that month because the leak made me "use" so much water, that I also got charged "overusage" penalties for using too many gallons of water! I almost died when I first opened that bill.

 

[mom2val]

I live in Texas. Have lived in 5 different counties/cities and always had a water meter that was read monthly. Unitl last year we lived in a different county/city for 8 years and water bill ranged from $35 - $50 a month. Since moving into our new house and changing county/city our bills are now $85 - $150 monthly. Rates are that much higher here plus we have a larger lawn to water June, July & August when our bill nearly doubles.

 

[SandrA9810]

The last apartment I lived in, in Kissimee, drove me crazy.

There were individual meters for each apartment because they were turned into condos. Now the water comes from Toho water authority that works along side Kissimmee utility authority. So in our previous apartment, the water/electric were together on the same bill.
The last apartment decided to use an outside meter reading company for billing. So Toho bills the complex at a business rate, and this outside company bills the individual units. Big PITA as it added another bill, could only be paid online and for the life of me I could never get it connected to the bank's online bill payment. Just before the lease was up and we were all moving out, there was a notice given about the new "improvements" to the community. A bunch of bull really, but for a 3 bedroom apartment they were going to start flat rate billing at like 40-50$ a month or some high amount. I was like "WHAT???" there's no way in heck I could ever use 40$ a month of water. Considering for the past 3 years of Toho billing the bill was always under 20$. I was glad to be getting out of there. I think it was their way of increasing rent even more because it had to be paid with the rent.

Anycase, I hate flat rate billing and think it's stupid. And I can't wait to see the first water bill for out here with how insanely stupid they waste water and electricity.

 

[Luvchefmic]

The last apartment I lived in, in Kissimee, drove me crazy.

There were individual meters for each apartment because they were turned into condos. Now the water comes from Toho water authority that works along side Kissimmee utility authority. So in our previous apartment, the water/electric were together on the same bill.
The last apartment decided to use an outside meter reading company for billing. So Toho bills the complex at a business rate, and this outside company bills the individual units. Big PITA as it added another bill, could only be paid online and for the life of me I could never get it connected to the bank's online bill payment. Just before the lease was up and we were all moving out, there was a notice given about the new "improvements" to the community. A bunch of bull really, but for a 3 bedroom apartment they were going to start flat rate billing at like 40-50$ a month or some high amount. I was like "WHAT???" there's no way in heck I could ever use 40$ a month of water. Considering for the past 3 years of Toho billing the bill was always under 20$. I was glad to be getting out of there. I think it was their way of increasing rent even more because it had to be paid with the rent.

Anycase, I hate flat rate billing and think it's stupid. And I can't wait to see the first water bill for out here with how insanely stupid they waste water and electricity.

Whoa Sandra the more I read the more blessed I feel that we picked Polk County FL...I have friends that have Orlando Electric and the bills there are practically double what we pay for that too! Otherwise are you adjusting to the other coast?

 

[SandrA9810]

I loved dealing with KUA and Toho, it was these outside companies and the apartment complex making it a nightmare. I've always liked dealing with KUA for any reason, and the bill was never that high. Much more pleasant than Orlando's electric company or Progress energy (I hear they charge up the wazoo).

The west coast is going alright. Haven't really adjusted, but I love being in farm country because at the farmers market I can spend 10$ on a weeks worth of fruits and veggies. I can buy a ton, plus it's so good. Much better tasting than florida's fruit.
I can't wait to see what late summer brings to the table. I've been seeing a lot of corn fields go up. I'm probably eating a lot more healthy now.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Well after I posted I realized I didn't put my name on it--kinda rude--sorry Ruthie here I have seen you many times on the boards Well good luck to you adjusting out there it's always good to eat healthier so that's a start right ? It will be interesting to hear what you're thinking when you get more settled in Good Luck to you

 

[disneychrista]

California here and we have meter and are billed a flat rate plus usage/usage above baseline. My bill is about the same each month.

I think each water district does it a little different. I moved last year to a new water district and it was the same flat rate plus usage but the flat rate was lower and varience was greater. My new district the flat rate is higher and the varience is a lot less.

 

[3boymthr]

We have a water meter. It's a flat rate for the first x number of gallons per quarter, then x per gallon for the next 20,000 y per gallon for the next 20,000 and z per gallon for the next 20,000. Which sounds like a lot of water, but they base it on your annual usage. There's also a flat rate fee for the improvement to the local pump house.

We do not get billed for sewer as we don't have sewer; which is actually a raging battle around here. People on the lakes want sewer so they don't have to pump their tight tanks every month, but only 10% of the population lives on the lakes and the rest of us would have to pay $$$$$$$+monthly fees to remove our septic systems (DH & I just paid $10,000 to upgrade said system to meet Title 5) and tie into the sewer which none of us want to do.

 

[DVC-Don]

We are metered but have a minimum charge of $90 per quarter.

 

[savannahcat]

We live in the Northern panhandle of WV and our water is metered with the sewage charge based on water usage. Overall, cost of living is really low here, except for the water, I guess. We pay an average of $100 a month for water and sewage.