Anyone's water bill come in insanely high for the past month?
Posted by BlueKnight8907@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 49 comments
Just got my invoice for the past month and it says we used 60 thousand gallons of water. This is nearly ten times more than what we usually use and our bill is $688. The only thing I can think of that could affect my water usage was I flushed our water heater to get rid of sediment buildup. Our water heater is only 40 gallons and I only flushed it twice. That doesn't account for the tens of thousands of gallons the city says we used. There aren't any puddles around the yard that would make me think the supply line is broken either.
Calling the number for the water utilities has been of no use, the link rings once and goes silent before the line drops.
Texas_Mike_CowboyFan@reddit
Yes. Turns out we had a leak in a pipe that connects the irrigation system. You wouldn't really see a big puddle, but our exterminator guy pointed out that there were wasps gathering near a little puddle by the green irrigation box by the street. Not the main water shut off, the box next to that. After we killed the wasps, I opened it up and the box was full of water, probably a foot deep. It had been leaking for a month. Look closer. Has to be a leak somewhere.
Conscious_Future_680@reddit
Can you share which examiner you called? My water bill was 5x the normal amount so I need to find out what's going on. I'm in DFW area.
Texas_Mike_CowboyFan@reddit
You mean exterminator? I’ll see if I can dig it up. I don’t remember the name off the top of my head. We’ve used them for ten years or more.
Conscious_Future_680@reddit
Oh my bad. I thought you had a plumber or someone who got the leak fixed.
Texas_Mike_CowboyFan@reddit
Oh, that part, yes, plumber fixed the leak. I’ll find the name for you.
Texas_Mike_CowboyFan@reddit
https://horizonservice.net/
hodor137@reddit
A box full of water isn't 60,000 gallons
Texas_Mike_CowboyFan@reddit
The point is, he has a leak.
Ok-Platform544@reddit
I agee..mine went from 71.99 to 185.00..no leaks just me..out of control....you can't talk to them because no matter they are right..
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
They came out to check the meter the guy confirmed it was read wrong and they lowered my bill. Apparently a bunch of people on my block had the same problem. It's worth calling them to have them check the meter.
Blondeandstupid@reddit
They did this to us last year. Had to check for leaks and toilet leaks. Called the city and had to harass them nonstop and even then it’s a credit on our account vs a refund
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
I'm hoping the meter messed up somehow. It doesn't show we're using water right now so I'm hopeful it's not a leak. I'll take a credit if it means there's no slab leak!
hodor137@reddit
It's definitely a meter/billing issue. I had a very similar issue at my last apartment, and googling it, you'll find lots of people afflicted by this same kind of error/scam.
One month they tried to bill me $1500, it was like 300,000 gallons or something just absurd. They had already billed me 500 the month prior and I'd paid it, but told them they had something messed up. When I looked at the daily usage, it actually lined up RELATIVELY with my usage - when I was home, did laundry, it was higher. When I was gone for the weekend, it dropped to nothing. The problem was the days I was home it would say I used like 1500 gallons in a day. If id left every faucet on for an entire 24 hr period I couldn't have used that much.
They had something fucked up on their end and it like calculated usage exponentially more than it should've. I'd bet anything it's some default either in the meter or their system, and it's in their interests to not fix it because it lets them bill people out the ass and then blow them off when they call and bitch, and basically steal money - with eventual bill credits on the back end, at worst.
A leak or toilets running would look like 2x usage or something like that, if that. If you had a pool and a pipe was COMPLETELY busted, maybe you'd run up an extra 100-200 bucka. This is not that. Ignore all the posts suggesting that crap.
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
You were right. The meter was read wrong and apparently a couple houses on our block had the same issue.
noncongruent@reddit
A 1/2" water pipe can flow 50 gallons per minute, so that's 72,000 gallons in a day, 2.1M gallons in a month.
woodstock9999@reddit
No on the increase but you can sign up for a free irrigation and leak check by the city. These guys are great and very thorough. https://savedallaswater.com/rebates-and-incentives/free-irrigation-audits/
hodor137@reddit
This is NOT a leak. This is the water company having a huge error, or it's a scam.
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
You were right, the utilities guy came by and confirmed the meter was read wrong. He said a couple other houses had the same problem. It's a huge relief, I tell ya.
Secret-Ad-1029@reddit
Thank you for this!
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
Thanks, I'll have that checked out.
If I'm reading the new water meter correctly, it doesn't show we're using water right now so it may not be a leak.
SimpleVegetable5715@reddit
I hope it's not! Those big leaks can be really expensive to repair.
DoubleHexDrive@reddit
Could be a constant but slight toilet leak. Check your meter for flows when everything is turned off. Could be a five dollar fix.
thedogsbrain@reddit
Toilet running? Irrigation leak?
hodor137@reddit
A toilet doesn't run for 60,000 gallons in a month
Ok_Steak_9689@reddit
A stuck flapper could waste 80k/month
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
Toilet hasn't been running and I don't have an irrigation system.
Even when I had a bad leak in our shower faucet back in October for a good two weeks the bill was only $30 higher. This is like a pools worth of water they're reading.
I checked our water meter, it looks newer than what we had before but it doesn't show we're using water right now so it may not be a leak. My sister who lives one block over said their bill was twice as much as usual.
K3B1N@reddit
Assuming you’re in a house, you need to walk around your perimeter and check for a spot that is significantly more wet. You may have leak under your house.
Also, make sure your water heater is functioning properly.
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
No wets spots, at least not overly wet since we had some rain. The meter also doesn't show us using water right now so I hope that means it's not a leak.
K3B1N@reddit
That’s good! Did you compare your meter’s current reading against the final reading on your bill?
noncongruent@reddit
Go take a picture of your water meter, then leave everything that uses water in your house off for an hour, then go take another picture. It should show zero usage. Take the picture down to the water department and see if they did a bad read, or mixed your digital meter number up with someone else's meter. The picture will help them sort that out.
600lbsofsin77@reddit
Also if nothing is running the numbers won’t be turning
truth-4-sale@reddit
My meter has numbers in the gage for gallons used, plus a small red spoked wheel that can detect even the slightest amout of water moving through.
Has one or more of your toilets been running?
rickybobbyscrewchief@reddit
This is the way. You either have a significant leak or you have a bad reading/billing entry. This'll tell you.
ShaoMinghui@reddit
This sounds like a billing error. Check to make sure it isn't a leak then go to the city for answers. They can't just not answer you. You can maybe charge it back with the bank if all else fails and then you probably will get a response from the city.
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
I opened a case with the city. They're going to send someone out to check the meter since it was recently replaced. They told me to just pay the normal amount I usually would if the investigation goes past the due date.
ShaoMinghui@reddit
Ok that's good, glad you got a response. That must've had your heart skip a few beats seeing that bill. I've had Farmers Branch do that to my electric once. It was TRIPLE the usual and turns out it was a billing error.
Vulpine69@reddit
Go look at the meter. It should have a big dial and a small dial or circle. With everything off, see if the small one is moving. If it is you have a leak.
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
It was replaced with a digital one sometime in the last couple months. The only reason I know that is because we had a bad leak from our shower faucet back in October and it was the old one like you mentioned. The meter doesn't show we're running water so I'm hoping that means it's not a leak.
locodfw@reddit
Best way to tell is turn off all water facets in your home. Go out to the water meter and watch it. If it’s spinning then you know you have water flowing through your home somewhere. Hope it’s not a slab leak that is going unnoticed. Do you feel any warm spots in your home on the floor. Etc…
BlueKnight8907@reddit (OP)
It looks like we have a newer digital meter. It's not the same one we used to have, that one had a spinner like you mentioned. If I'm reading the meter correctly then it doesn't show that we are consuming water right now so it , hopefully, isn't a leak.
NightGod@reddit
Might be worth checking to make sure there wasn't a mixup when they replaced the meter
K3B1N@reddit
What does the meter say? Check it against your ending usage on your bill.
mason123z@reddit
Nope mine was 10 cents less than last month
SimpleVegetable5715@reddit
You might have a slab leak.
Turn off all the water faucets in your house. Check your water meter (it's usually under a manhole in the front yard or sidewalk). Write down the number on the meter. Do not turn on any faucets or flush any toilets, etc. Look at the meter again an hour later. If the number's gone up; you've got a leak somewhere. It does sound like a big leak, and these slab leaks can go undetected for a while, since the water's going into the ground below your house.
My ex's house had a pretty extensive slab leak. It got so bad, water started leaking up through the subfloor. It's fairly common in Texas, because our clay soil swells and contracts a lot. Especially during temperature changes, or dry spells followed by heavy rain like what we just experienced. This can cause your foundation to shift and crack pipes. That's why we try to use soaker hoses around our foundations in the summer when there's no rain, so once it rains again, it's less of a shock to the ground. You may also want to look around your yard and possibly in your neighbors' yard for any unusual puddling.
BelgraviaEngineer@reddit
(me with a belly full of 60 thousand gallons of water)
Can't say that I have
IranianLawyer@reddit
Sounds like some kind of leak. I got all new sod last month. I was watering my lawn 2-3x a day for several weeks, and daily since then. Despite all that, my water bill was only like $280.
umlguru@reddit
You can check your meter to see if it was misread. This is very unlikely. More likely is you have a leak.
fuelvolts@reddit
It could be catch-up billing. If you don't have a smart meter, they only read meters once a quarter or so. They bill based on historical averages. Perhaps you did use a lot more water than you realize over a longer period of time, then when they actually read your meter, it was way more than they guessed, so they bumped it up.
I mean, $700 of water in a month is like filling a pool up a couple of times. That's a ton of water for a residential house in just 30 days.
Hot_Swimming_112@reddit
If everyone’s water bill was 10x amount from last month, it would be all over the news and people will be complaining. I think it’s specific to only you