OMG...the cost of water is what?????????????????

[dfchelbay]

Just got my water bill and am just sick about it. It's over $700. I called and asked why it was so much and was told, in a rather what's the big deal kind of way, that effective April of this year the rates we raised 24%. and it's right on par with my water usage this time last year. WTH, thanks for your concern dude. So, I looked over the bill and it's $11.90 per unit. Not sure what a unit is, maybe 100 gallons. I'll call tomorrow and get that info.

Can anyone take a peek at their bill and let me know what the per unit or gallon rate is where you live. I think this is a grossly high per unit cost. Also, how many units/gallons do you use in your house. There is just the two of us here, so two showers per day, run the dishwasher when full and misc. using of the sink. We are still using way too much water I think.

Just wondering what the going rate is where you live, and about how much water you use per month. I think DH is a real water waster. This is just another reason, in the long line of reasons, why I want to unload this house. My utilities per month are nearly as much as the mortgage payment.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Um -- $700??? Wow. Just wow.

We pay water charge - $3.42 per 100 cubic feet and a sewer maintenance charge - $1.43 per 100 cubic feet, every other month. Last bill was $102.10 -- again, for TWO months.

And I thought OUR cost of living is high (we're in a NW suburb of Chicago). We're a family of 4, with DS17 often showering twice a day (football) and DD12 beginning to take longer ones.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Holy cow! That's insane!

Our water bill runs around $80/month for 4 of us. And that includes our garbage and yard waste pick-up, also. The bill I just pulled out for comparison shows that we used 5200 gallons this particular month. It was $30.19 for the sewer, $20.72 for the water usage. Garbage added $24.59, stormwater management $3.12, total $78.62. We have a separate meter for our sprinkler system (charges for water only, not sewer) and we used 5000 gallons at a cost of $20.20.

Water is typically priced per thousand gallons, not per hundred gallons.

You must have a leak somewhere! We had a water leak at our old house and our bill shot up. I was able to get the sewer part abated since the water was just going into the ground.

 

[C.Ann]

Without even looking, I knew your location was going to be Florida.. I've heard that the water rates there are outrageous..

If you're not using an enormous amount of water you may have a small leak somewhere - or your toilet is running when it shouldn't be - and even a teeny, tiny leak can cause a dramatic increase in your useage..

Hope you can get things straightened out.. That's a lot of money!!!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Without even looking, I knew your location was going to be Florida.. I've heard that the water rates there are outrageous..

If you're not using an enormous amount of water you may have a small leak somewhere - or your toilet is running when it shouldn't be - and even a teeny, tiny leak can cause a dramatic increase in your useage..

Hope you can get things straightened out.. That's a lot of money!!!

But I live in Florida and my rates are very reasonable!

 

[SandrA9810]

Yeah, but if it's on par with last years usage, then there wouldn't be a leak.

When I lived in Florida, KUA billed it at per 1,000 gallons. Usually only paid about $20 or so per month.

You would've had a heart attack if you saw what I did this morning. Some one turned the hose on it the back yard at some point. It flooded the entire backyard, then followed the fence line (lowest point in the yard) to the front/side yard. Flooded that, and was draining out to the street. I can't even begin to image how many hundreds of gallons of water that was.

For now at least, the water isn't metered yet. They're having issues getting enough in to install at all the homes in the city. But I'm scared to think of what the water bill would be like with it metered.

 

[POOHsie]

Just got my water bill and am just sick about it. It's over $700. I called and asked why it was so much and was told, in a rather what's the big deal kind of way, that effective April of this year the rates we raised 24%. and it's right on par with my water usage this time last year. WTH, thanks for your concern dude. So, I looked over the bill and it's $11.90 per unit. Not sure what a unit is, maybe 100 gallons. I'll call tomorrow and get that info.

Can anyone take a peek at their bill and let me know what the per unit or gallon rate is where you live. I think this is a grossly high per unit cost. Also, how many units/gallons do you use in your house. There is just the two of us here, so two showers per day, run the dishwasher when full and misc. using of the sink. We are still using way too much water I think.

Just wondering what the going rate is where you live, and about how much water you use per month. I think DH is a real water waster. This is just another reason, in the long line of reasons, why I want to unload this house. My utilities per month are nearly as much as the mortgage payment.

If your usage is about the same as last year, and prices were raised 24%, that means last year your bill must have been around $550 or so. Is that right? Do you pay by quarter or semi-annually? I don't get why your bill is so high. If there isn't a hose left open in your yard, I would seriously call a plumber and find out what's wrong. The main pipe to your house, on your side of the meter, could be leaking (old, or tree roots). Or a toilet or water pipe somewhere. You need to have it checked. I never heard of paying that much for water. Our service here in WV is $55/month for water, sewer and garbage. When I lived in Miami, then Ft. Lauderdale, for 25 years, service was around that much, also, per month.

 

[Jeff_G]

For 1 month with watering my lawn:
Used 1542 Cubic FT
Avg Daily Usage 51.4 CFT
Service Chg: 30 days x $0.3789 $11.37
Cmdty Chg Blk 1: 999 CF x $0.0251 $25.07
Cmdty Chg Blk 2: 543 CF x $0.0468 $25.41
Total charge this service $61.85
To convert CF to gallons, multiply by 7.48


Now my Avg Daily usage in Winter Ie without watering the lawn: 24.57 CF

So I'm using 384.472 Gal a day !!! 200 of that on the lawn! Wow! This is the first time I have ever converted it to gallons. That seems like a lot!

FYI we are under a rate payer owned utility so our rates tend to be lower...

 

[tavettava]

We pay $3.47 per 1000 gal. for water and $4.08 per 1000 gal for sewer. Our average cost per day is .75

 

[QVCshopper]

That is high! But, you can make changes... like showering every other day, flushing less, running full loads of dishes & laundry, etc. We get billed quarterly, and used 6,000 gallons in just over a 3 month period (quarterly bill). Charges were $47 for water and $34 for sewer, and there are four of us, two of us are here almost constantly. Now, you should know that I watch our utilities like a hawk, so $27/month is probably low for the average family of our size. We're in PA.

 

[phred52]

huh...we are billed every 3 months. My average water bill is $35 dollars. That's for a family of two with lots of visits from our college kids for weekends and such, We use the dishwasher every other day. Have two washing machines in the basement... not that we have a ton of laundry, but having two washers means it takes 1/2 the time to 'do' the laundry. Everybody takes a shower a day. $700 bill for water would give me a heart attack.

 

[pixiewings71]

We are billed every 3 months, we pay between $100-150 per bill. $700 is outrageous, when our water main broke (it took them 2 days to come shut it off after we reported it leaking) our bill still wasn't that high......I'd definitely be checking into that!

 

[Eeyore98]

OP, if you are not watering your lawn that is beyond outrageous. Our next-door neighbors here in TX spend about $300/mo to water their lawn with a sprinkler system enough that it stays green and lush when most everyone else's is dead and blowing away. That was the most ridiculous water bill I'd ever heard of...until now.

 

[cbg1027]

OP, was that $700 for one month? I really hope not!!!!!

I paid about $53 for 4,400 gallons (Water and Sewer) on my last bill. That's for two people and and seven pets (lots of extra laundry).

 

[sskem96]

We just got our water bill yesterday and it was $118.21, which is about $20 higher than normal. In the past month we have replaced our dishwasher and an old toilet, so I was hoping the bill would be lower this time! Our consumption was actually up this month from 1100 to 1400 (I'm assuming that's cubic feet).

Water-61.14
Sewer-20.12
Water Reclamation District Charge-17.07
City Utility Tax-1.53
Refuse-14.00
"Medium Single Family"-4.35 (I have no idea what that charge is for)!

When we first moved to town 13 years ago, our water bill ran just under $20/month, but they keep adding more and more fees to it!

 

[superme80]

And I thought my over $100 bill this month was bad. I'm so sorry!

 

[VAfamily1998]

I live in Northern VA.

We pay $3.20/1000 gallons for water consumption
and $6.20/1000 gallons for sewer consuption.

I just got a bill yesterday that was $95 for the month. My highest bill in the last 12 months was around $150 back in August. Summer is a huge water bill not only because of watering the lawn, but we also do more laundry (all the pool towels and bathing suits) and take more showers (I take up to 3 showers a day in the summer, usually just 1 a day in the winter).

 

[Judique]

Just got my water bill and am just sick about it. It's over $700. I called and asked why it was so much and was told, in a rather what's the big deal kind of way, that effective April of this year the rates we raised 24%. and it's right on par with my water usage this time last year. WTH, thanks for your concern dude. So, I looked over the bill and it's $11.90 per unit. Not sure what a unit is, maybe 100 gallons. I'll call tomorrow and get that info.

Can anyone take a peek at their bill and let me know what the per unit or gallon rate is where you live. I think this is a grossly high per unit cost. Also, how many units/gallons do you use in your house. There is just the two of us here, so two showers per day, run the dishwasher when full and misc. using of the sink. We are still using way too much water I think.

Just wondering what the going rate is where you live, and about how much water you use per month. I think DH is a real water waster. This is just another reason, in the long line of reasons, why I want to unload this house. My utilities per month are nearly as much as the mortgage payment.

Our water sewer bill is about $40 per month averaged out. They bill every 3 months here. That is for 3 people plus pets. $700 would easily cover the whole year here.

Are you doing a lot of watering outside?
My bill would include some watering. If I watered a full garden like two years ago, I would expect another $100 per year.

Our water company will do an adjustment on a one time basis for problems. They also often estimate the bills. Estimate is 70 gallons per day per person.
Also - for our area - the more water you use the higher the rate is. Doesn't sound fair for larger families - I've always wondered about that one!

Do you have a huge property? Other Florida people seem to be reporting much more reasonable bills.

 

[camlace]

Just got my water bill and am just sick about it. It's over $700. I called and asked why it was so much and was told, in a rather what's the big deal kind of way, that effective April of this year the rates we raised 24%. and it's right on par with my water usage this time last year. WTH, thanks for your concern dude. So, I looked over the bill and it's $11.90 per unit. Not sure what a unit is, maybe 100 gallons. I'll call tomorrow and get that info.

Can anyone take a peek at their bill and let me know what the per unit or gallon rate is where you live. I think this is a grossly high per unit cost. Also, how many units/gallons do you use in your house. There is just the two of us here, so two showers per day, run the dishwasher when full and misc. using of the sink. We are still using way too much water I think.

Just wondering what the going rate is where you live, and about how much water you use per month. I think DH is a real water waster. This is just another reason, in the long line of reasons, why I want to unload this house. My utilities per month are nearly as much as the mortgage payment.

You are missing some key data points for an accurate comparison. Is this a monthly, quarterly, yearly bill? Is sewer included or not? Is it an actual read vs an estimated read? Was a previous bill an estimate and this bill is now the actual read bill? Also, my town bills quarterly, however 2 cycles are billed at a flat $99/quarter and the other two are the balance I owe based on actual usage.

Also in my town we have a tiered structure...so the 1st 1000 cf costs $0.00/100 CF; then 1000-3000 CF = $1.30/CF; then 3000-5000 = $2.90/cf and keeps going up all the way to over 20,000 CF.

Last year in New England I paid $328 for the year just for water; $247 for sewer. Hope you get some answers from the city!

 

[pigletto]

My sewer charge always ends up almost exactly the same as my water charge. They are both on one bill. We are billed every 3 months and it is about 260 every time. So 130 for sewer, 130 for water.
And I thought that was high!! Our neighbors/friends are a good 60 or 80 less than us every billing cycle.
We rarely, if ever, water the lawn or gardens from the hoses because we have rain barrels.