Major Budget Buster

[RachelEllen]

Ugh, this one is killing me.

So, we are pretty good at saving so this won't put us in danger, but it is very painful none-the-less.

About 6 months ago, our water bill jumped from $80/month to about $500/month. It turned out to be a leak in the sprinker (which we never even use!). We got it fixed and the water company actually adjusted our bill. Everything was fine for six months, until now, I just got a $1000 bill! Yes, a $1000 water bill! I got the leak detection people out here same day. The leak is somewhere outside our house but not in the sprinker line. Because of the insane way our water is set-up, our meter is about three blocks from our house. So, the leak is somewhere in three blocks of 20 year old water line and totally our problem to fix. (things you learn about after buying a house that really come back to get you). THe detection people say our best bet is to get the county to install a new meter right by our house and just run a new, short line. Fixing the entire 20 year old line will be several thousand. Just finding the leak will also be severeal thousand and it could leak again soon if just patched.

And, the kicker, because we got our bill adjusted just six months ago, there are no more adjustments allowed. We can appeal this in person, but the water department lady told me not to get my hopes up.

So, about $3000 in expenses incurred over the last 6 hours. Plus, I can either turn off the water to the house, or have the bill run up about $30/day until its fixed.

 

[leebee]

I really don't have any advice or suggestions, but wanted to let you know we're feeling for you! Talk about trapped between a rock and a hard place! Any chance you can turn off the water during the day when nobody's home and just turn it on for dishwashing and showering time? Guess that doesn't solve the potty, though. I would talk to the water company and explain what's going on, then get the new, short line in asap. Geez, what a racket for the water company, huh? Good luck!

 

[RachelEllen]

That's actually not a bad idea. If they take more than a week or so to bring in the new meter, we might just do that. It's a pain in the neck as the shut-off valve is 3 blocks away and requires a special tool, but I'd put up with only 1 flush a day to save several hundred dollars. We're also going to go in person and appeal to the water company to get the bill reduced. Since we have proof that it was two separate problems and we fixed them both quickly, I'm hoping they might make an exception.

Oh, what I forgot to mention is that installing a new meter and line is a "mere" $2000 (plus $1000 bill makes the $3000 we are out minimum). But, I will have no idea until morning how long it will take the city to bring over that new meter.

 

[sherry7]

Yikes! I would do some research and see if your state has a Public Utility Commission that you can file an appeal with. It might be called something else in your state.

 

[RachelEllen]

Thanks for the sympathy. We've had so many problems with our water bill.

#1 - When we first moved in, there was a computer glitch that didn't properly link our billing account. So, even though we paid each month, we were actually being marked as deliquent. We only found this out when our water was shut off. I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time and it took them 3 days to turn it back on.

#2 - Then, 9 months ago, we got a $400 bill. It was a meter error, so they totally took care of it.

#3 - So, 2 months later, when another $400 bill came, we assumed it was a meter problem. When they told us it wasn't, my husband insisted that someone come out and show us in person how they could tell before we spent money diagnosing our end. This lead to a several week delay in fixing it. Which wouldn't have been that big a deal, except they told us that they would credit us 60 days worth of service once we proved we fixed the problem. We fixed it in just under 60 days from the first high bill. Turns out, they didn't really mean 60 days, they meant two billing cycles. Since they would only credit 2 bills, and our high bills spanned 3 cycles, we were still out about $300.

#4 - And, finally now, it seems we have a completely separate problem to repair. So far, this one is totally our problem (cheap decision by our original builder to not give us a close meter + 20 year old lines that run under our neighbors yards). However, I'm hoping for mercy as this is the worst problem yet!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Even if they won't completely abate your excessive bill, you should at least argue for the sewage portion to be reduced. Our city measures water consumption and assumes the sewage effluent to be equivalent -- but sewage is more expensive. We had a water leak a few years ago between the meter and the house and I took my bill to the city along with the plumber's bill, and explained that while I agreed that we'd used the water, we had not used that much sewage. The manager agreed to adjust my sewage bill to what we typically used and I only paid for the excessive water.

Good luck!