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

[stacy347]

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.

I see that you have your location as MI/FL ~ just curious which state issued that bill. I'm in southeast MI and we get our water from Detroit, so every time they raise rates, my township does also. My bill has gone from $250 quarterly to about $390 quarterly.
That is with 6 showers/day, dishwasher everyday and approx. 3 loads of laundry/day. We don't have any fancy landscaping, so watering my flowers is
a negligible difference (one watering can full every few days).

My oldest daughter just went off to college in August, and she was the worst for long showers. I haven't gotten a new water bill since she left, but my hot water tank has it's own readout on the DTE bill, and it dropped by over 25% the month after she left!

 

[Candlz]

I used to work at the water dept. Speak to a supervisor. Tell them that you want it investigated.

You can also check your meter yourself. Make sure there is no water running in the house, then go look at the meter (open it with a stick or something - snakes and spiders like to hang out in there.) If the numbers are moving, and you are sure everything is off - you have a leak. If the numbers are not moving - write them down and leave the water off for a few hours. Before you use the water again, go check the meter, if the numbers moved you may have a slow leak.

Another issue was as meters age they malfunction - which USUALLY results in a lower bill bc they slow down. When they replace the meter - water bill usually JUMP bc now they are functioning correctly.

The easiest 'fix' is when the meter is read incorrectly - a reread and the bill is adjusted.

Good luck

 

[POOHsie]

I see that you have your location as MI/FL ~ just curious which state issued that bill. I'm in southeast MI and we get our water from Detroit, so every time they raise rates, my township does also. My bill has gone from $250 quarterly to about $390 quarterly.
That is with 6 showers/day, dishwasher everyday and approx. 3 loads of laundry/day. We don't have any fancy landscaping, so watering my flowers is
a negligible difference (one watering can full every few days).

My oldest daughter just went off to college in August, and she was the worst for long showers. I haven't gotten a new water bill since she left, but my hot water tank has it's own readout on the DTE bill, and it dropped by over 25% the month after she left!

When my DD got married and left the house, the water, electric and gas bill dropped alot. DD liked nice, hot 45 min. showers, and used at least 3 big towels per shower. After she left, electric bill went down from less washing machine use. Less gas was used for less water heating and less dryer loads. And of course, less overall water use. My laundry duties also reduced significantly. I was glad to pawn off her utility-hog ways to someone else.

 

[Swimalie]

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).

I'm in Northern VA and the rates are about the same. Although, with heavy grass watering, our highest ever was $96. A friend of mine moved from my neighborhood to another county and her bill went up to $300. So I know our county has good water rates compared to others.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I'm in Northern VA and the rates are about the same. Although, with heavy grass watering, our highest ever was $96. A friend of mine moved from my neighborhood to another county and her bill went up to $300. So I know our county has good water rates compared to others.

Right, we're in the same county

 

[nunzia]

I used to work at the water dept. Speak to a supervisor. Tell them that you want it investigated.

You can also check your meter yourself. Make sure there is no water running in the house, then go look at the meter (open it with a stick or something - snakes and spiders like to hang out in there.) If the numbers are moving, and you are sure everything is off - you have a leak. If the numbers are not moving - write them down and leave the water off for a few hours. Before you use the water again, go check the meter, if the numbers moved you may have a slow leak.

Another issue was as meters age they malfunction - which USUALLY results in a lower bill bc they slow down. When they replace the meter - water bill usually JUMP bc now they are functioning correctly.

The easiest 'fix' is when the meter is read incorrectly - a reread and the bill is adjusted.

Good luck

As she said...my DH was a meter reader for many years, so check the above out.
Our bill
Water base rate:13.00
Water Tier 1 cost: 19.50 (11221 gallons)
so just water is 32.50
Sewage base rate: 13.30
Consumption charge: 614 (gallons 4376)
so sewage is 19.44
Garbage: 13.93
Gov Gross receipts tax 3.29
Total bill 69.16

this is pretty common coming out of summer

 

[Swimalie]

Right, we're in the same county

That's right! Don't move to the farm county near us. Their rates are outrageous!

 

[Bonniec]

OP, where in FL are you? We are in Melbourne and we are getting hammered too. Enough so that I had to sell some of our items just to pay our bills and we're really freaking out. Something is very wrong here. I'll check with DH today to log online and see exactly what we are being charged.

 

[SaraJayne]

Our water/sewer bill came yesterday...and it was about $30 higher than normal, since our hose was left on continuously for two days this summer.

Our rates are water ~ $3.86 per thousand gallons and sewer ~ $3.07 per thousand gallons.

That doesn't include the quarterly rate of the pleasure of just having acces to water/sewer. That runs about $60 a quarter.

 

[SaraJayne]

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.

Our sewer charge is always the exact same amount as our water charge. I guess they assume all the water you use goes down the sewer.

Which totally stinks when we filled the swimming pool in the summer...you end up paying water AND sewer.

 

[tmarquez]

I live in FL and while I think our bill is high, I would die if I got a $700 bill!

We are a family of 5 with a pool that needs filling sometimes and a sprinkler system for the front and back and the highest bill I've had was about $140.

I would definately check the meter yourself and also check for any leaks, that's crazy.

 

[reginaastralis]

I didn't read the whole thread, but op you said you were from Florida and I know in the last year there has been an uproar in the city of Tampa regarding water bills. People had unexpected jumps like yours, from $100 one month to $700 the next.

You might have said where you're from, but if you aren't from Tampa, it might not hurt to look into if this is happening around where you live. Some of the talk is that water meter readers weren't checking the meters each month, and were letting the readings go for a couple of months. They were just averaging the meter and what they thought it was going to be, but when they finally got around to reading the meter, the jump was astronomical. Just a thought ...

 

[Candlz]

Our sewer charge is always the exact same amount as our water charge. I guess they assume all the water you use goes down the sewer.

Which totally stinks when we filled the swimming pool in the summer...you end up paying water AND sewer.

It has been a few years - but I remember we used to make adjustment for these things. My supervisor handled it - have you called your water department and asked? I can't remember if people had to call for a read prior to filling the pool then another after...

Also - we made adjustments for leaks too - I remember people had to bring in the repair bill etc. I also remember a bill being adjusted because a someone had broken into a snowbirds house and left the hose on. The owner had to turn in the police report etc.

Call your water department and find out - you never know. Just be kind - their jobs... well it isn't fun getting paid so little to be screamed at.

 

[Jeff_G]

Our sewer charge is always the exact same amount as our water charge. I guess they assume all the water you use goes down the sewer.

Which totally stinks when we filled the swimming pool in the summer...you end up paying water AND sewer.

My city takes your water usage for three winter months then averages it and uses that for sewer. That way you are not paying sever charges for watering your lawn and so forth...

 

[happygirl]

I thought my 75 dollar bill was bad

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

Our water charge says $.46300 x 63(which is 100 gal used, we used 63 100 gallons )
Sewer says $1.13100 x 33

Total bill is $127, which I believe to be highway robbery, I can't imagine $700

 

[SaraJayne]

It has been a few years - but I remember we used to make adjustment for these things. My supervisor handled it - have you called your water department and asked? I can't remember if people had to call for a read prior to filling the pool then another after...

Also - we made adjustments for leaks too - I remember people had to bring in the repair bill etc. I also remember a bill being adjusted because a someone had broken into a snowbirds house and left the hose on. The owner had to turn in the police report etc.

Call your water department and find out - you never know. Just be kind - their jobs... well it isn't fun getting paid so little to be screamed at.

Yes, we've called about it. We've lived here for 10 years and it's always been that way.

For billing purposes, water and sewer are equal.

 

[leight]

I didn't read the whole thread, but op you said you were from Florida and I know in the last year there has been an uproar in the city of Tampa regarding water bills. People had unexpected jumps like yours, from $100 one month to $700 the next.

You might have said where you're from, but if you aren't from Tampa, it might not hurt to look into if this is happening around where you live. Some of the talk is that water meter readers weren't checking the meters each month, and were letting the readings go for a couple of months. They were just averaging the meter and what they thought it was going to be, but when they finally got around to reading the meter, the jump was astronomical. Just a thought ...

OP- it looks from your profile that you are in the miami area. I am also in the tampa area and for the past year since they changed the cost per 'tier' of use people have been getting outrageous bills. One poor 70+yr old lady with a very small 2 bedroom house had a bill over $1000 for a month- and she doesn't have either a dishwasher or washing machine!! And they still couldn't find the issue. I know that the water authority here has worked with people with outrageous bills and I would definately speak with a supervisor to go thru the bill line by line with last year's bill and check for all leaks. If they changed the billing process- there may be something wrong with their calculations and you won't be the only one complaining.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I live in Atlanta and ours are VERY high.

just because it's "on par with last year" does not mean there is not a leak. My condo complex was 'on par" but we finally replaced all the pipes and guess what "on par" included LEAKS that had probably been there for years.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Ours is billed quarterly and our last one was $115. The last one was much higher $300ish as we were watering the flower beds and filled the pool.

I don't think we pay $700 in a year.