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

[POPCITY]

I'm a supervisor for a utility, and my advice is to look at the amount of water used, NOT the dollar amount. That will tell you if you have a problem. If you used a comparable amount of water at this time last year, or even last month, your bill is right, the rates just went up. And I'll tell you something that I can't tell my own customers: don't yell at me for it. I have nothing, nada, zip to do with setting rates. I have no incentive at all to try to rip you off. If I felt that the bill was wrong, I would move heaven and earth to try to understand what happened, but at the end of the day, if the meter is reading correctly (and it probably is), and we billed for the amount that went through it, there's nothing I can do for you. I'm really sorry that you feel like your water company didn't care, and this is no excuse, but summer sucks at any utility. Maybe you caught someone on a really bad day.

We have a tiered rate structure, it ranges from $2.25 to $6.00 per thousand gallons, inside the City limits. A $700 bill would not be unusual in certain parts of town here. We have customers that regularly get bills in the summer for $1000 or more, due to irrigation.

 

[SandrA9810]

Wow! I am shocked at how much water bills are. We live in a VERY rural area and are on well water, so its free. I never gave it a thought as to how much city people have to pay.

You have to pay for sewage too? I thought that was included with water bill. Do all municipalities charge for sewage? Do they meter what you goes out your drains?

Sewage is based on how much water you use. Their theory, if you turn the water on for 5 gallons, than that's 5 gallons down the drain and into the sewer lines.

Now the only exception, is you can have a separate meter installed for outdoor use only, like for your hoses, since there's no sewer drain connected to it. Then they will only bill you based on how much water is used, but there's no sewage charge associated with it. The home owner usually has to pay for the installation of it, but it can come in handy if there's a pool or large yard for irrigation.

Water is generally very very cheap, it's the sewer that will bite you in the butt since it's billed at 2-3 times the cost of the actually water used. In Kissimmee, there's actually an extra charge for "rain water" or the city drains along the streets.

All the water has to be treated and cleaned, and that costs money.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

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

Same here...we live in the incorporated section of town, and we pay about $100/month for water/sewer/garbage/recycling (all on the same bill). It was about $70/month when we lived in the unincorporated section of town. We have a large inground pool that we have to keep topped off too.

 

[Muushka]

Has the OP even posted back on this thread?

 

[duffy]

Has the OP even posted back on this thread?

No, she's never come back.

I hate these kind of threads. $700 per month? Per quarter? Per year? What happened? Please, original poster, let us know more! How can it be grossly overpriced per unit if you don't know what a unit is? Did you find out more about the size of a unit?

The original poster is online and posting in other threads, though. Maybe she'll come back??

 

[Muushka]

No, she's never come back.

I hate these kind of threads. $700 per month? Per quarter? Per year? What happened? Please, original poster, let us know more! How can it be grossly overpriced per unit if you don't know what a unit is? Did you find out more about the size of a unit?

The original poster is online and posting in other threads, though. Maybe she'll come back??

Yup. Makes you wonder.

 

[WheelCEO]

good chance you have a leak somewhere

 

[HelenePA]

Sewage is based on how much water you use. Their theory, if you turn the water on for 5 gallons, than that's 5 gallons down the drain and into the sewer lines.

Now the only exception, is you can have a separate meter installed for outdoor use only, like for your hoses, since there's no sewer drain connected to it. Then they will only bill you based on how much water is used, but there's no sewage charge associated with it. The home owner usually has to pay for the installation of it, but it can come in handy if there's a pool or large yard for irrigation.

Water is generally very very cheap, it's the sewer that will bite you in the butt since it's billed at 2-3 times the cost of the actually water used. In Kissimmee, there's actually an extra charge for "rain water" or the city drains along the streets.

All the water has to be treated and cleaned, and that costs money.

it is not like this everywhere... my sewage is a set amount 99$ every 3 months... my water bill is INSANLY high probably because we have 6 people, showers, laundry, we do NOT water the lawn (I mean who needs to water it when you get 30" of water a month? my lawn is dead from all the water gotta love living in the NE this summer) I just got my new water bill in for this month 130$ Yep that's totally normal for us...

 

[Halbleib1]

Helene is correct sewer is not charged that way here either. Our sewer bill is a set monthly fee of 57.00 and our water is based on how much we use. Our bill runs just under 40.00 a month for around 3300 gallons. However where I grew up they no longer charge for water based on usage. They charge a quarterly fee and they get a seperate quarterly bill for the sewer as well. We have a seperate bill for trash as well. None of our utility bills are combined.


As for the storm drain water needing cleaned etc. that is what we pay property tax to the state and local govts. for.

 

[HelenePA]

Helene is correct sewer is not charged that way here either. Our sewer bill is a set monthly fee of 57.00 and our water is based on how much we use. Our bill runs just under 40.00 a month for around 3300 gallons. However where I grew up they no longer charge for water based on usage. They charge a quarterly fee and they get a seperate quarterly bill for the sewer as well. We have a seperate bill for trash as well. None of our utility bills are combined.


As for the storm drain water needing cleaned etc. that is what we pay property tax to the state and local govts. for.

Yep my brother is one town over and his water is every 3months at a based rate. if he goes over that its extra he's never gone over so I have no idea how much it would cost.. the bill comes to my house.. dont ask its a long story his is 118 every 3 months.. not sure about sewer.. I dont get his bill for that lol

 

[aubriee]

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.

I live in Texas and have a lawn sprinkler system. In July my water bill was $170.00 with us watering our lawn three days a week. For the last two months it's been around $125.00 and that's watering about 15 minutes on each station (six stations total) two days a week. Our water bill includes sewer and trash pick up though, so not too bad. (We're still in a drought here, so I'm watering now more to keep my foundation from cracking than to keep my lawn green. Our lawn is pulling away from the house and curbs it's so dry.)

 

[scrapquitler]

Wow! I am shocked at how much water bills are. We live in a VERY rural area and are on well water, so its free. I never gave it a thought as to how much city people have to pay.

You have to pay for sewage too? I thought that was included with water bill. Do all municipalities charge for sewage? Do they meter what you goes out your drains?

Where I live, sewer is calculated at 80% (or 75% maybe?) of water usage. So if you pay for 100 gallons of water use, you additionally pay for 80 gallons (or 75) of sewer usage. The assume that everytime you run the water, most of it is going back down the drain eventually, but there is that 20 or 25% that gets consumed or used for watering the lawn, etc.

For my household (2 adults, 2 children) our water/sewer is billed quarterly, and our bill usually is around $100-$120 per quarter. One quarter, it was $300 and I did some investigating and found a running toilet and a leak that I didn't realize existed. We fixed that, and the bill was normal the next time.

 

[zurgswife]

Hmmm no post on an update....interesting to say the least. Especially since they tromped on another thread about not updating.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Hmmm no post on an update....interesting to say the least. Especially since they tromped on another thread about not updating.

MTE. Pot, meet Kettle.

 

[dfchelbay]

Actually, I did post an update on Monday, not sure where it went. Sometimes I get the, wait your response is being redirected, and it sits there for a while. My response was that the bill is what it is, there is no leak. My main gripe with the city is how much they charge for the water. It's around the $11 range per thousand gallons. Thanks to everyone here that posted how much they get charged for their water. I asked friends in neighboring cities too (like 10-15 minute drive), and the most the pay is $5.60 per unit. We get our water from the same place. It's my city that is the pig, whether it water, taxes, rubbish, cable tv, etc. There is no competition and they charge whatever they want. It just further let's me know that we need to unload this house. I understand things are tough all over, but my city seems to think it doesn't apply to them. We've lost 1/3 the value of our home since 2008 (like everyone else), yet they have not lowered taxes, raised rubbish services fees, raised fees to cable provider, who passed on to residents...this place sucks.

 

[Muushka]

I'm sorry I doubted you. It doesn't make sense, those rates. I was hoping your main water line had broken.
Just wondering if you took a peek at the meter and saw if it was moving at all with all faucets shut off?

Again, I'm sorry

 

[dfchelbay]

I'm sorry I doubted you. It doesn't make sense, those rates. I was hoping your main water line had broken.
Just wondering if you took a peek at the meter and saw if it was moving at all with all faucets shut off?

Again, I'm sorry

No problem...it's all good. Actually, I have been obsessively going in the utility room several times a day to see if that little arm is moving...no movement whatsoever. I'm writing down the numbers too, see how much water is being used. We have always saved all water running in the sinks and showers, getting them warmed up too. We used that water to water plants. Since the usage is on par with that in the past, we are consuming it, but it's the price I'm so annoyed with. Actually, I'm also annoyed with how much water we use too. Going to be cutting that waaaaaaaay back.

 

[BillSears]

So at $11.00 per thousand gallons you used about 63,600 gallons during this period. $700.00 / $11.00 is the number of thousands of gallons.

Are you sure you don't have a leak? I'm a single guy who's pretty good but not perfect about conserving water and I average 16 gallons a day of water use per my bill. It would take me over 10 years to use 63,600 galons of water.

Unless that $700 was a yearly bill it still seems pretty high.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I only read through about half of the previous comments but I'm glad that I have a well and septic system.. holy moly that is a lot of money

 

[princessmom29]

Actually, I did post an update on Monday, not sure where it went. Sometimes I get the, wait your response is being redirected, and it sits there for a while. My response was that the bill is what it is, there is no leak. My main gripe with the city is how much they charge for the water. It's around the $11 range per thousand gallons. Thanks to everyone here that posted how much they get charged for their water. I asked friends in neighboring cities too (like 10-15 minute drive), and the most the pay is $5.60 per unit. We get our water from the same place. It's my city that is the pig, whether it water, taxes, rubbish, cable tv, etc. There is no competition and they charge whatever they want. It just further let's me know that we need to unload this house. I understand things are tough all over, but my city seems to think it doesn't apply to them. We've lost 1/3 the value of our home since 2008 (like everyone else), yet they have not lowered taxes, raised rubbish services fees, raised fees to cable provider, who passed on to residents...this place sucks.

I just don't get how you aree using that much water in a month. At $11.00 per thousand gallons, that would be 63,000 gallons, about 2,000 gallons a day! My family of three uses less than one tenth that. Even if it is a quarterly bill, that still seems like and awful lot of water usage.