Ideals about astounding water bill increase ?

[Pairadocs]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

[OpusX1]

Turn all the water off. Check the meter if it’s running you have a leak. If it’s not turning the meter may be bad.

[Bill14564]

Turn all the water off. Check the meter if it’s running you have a leak. If it’s not turning the meter may be bad.

Add to that: if the meter is running with all the faucets turned off then turn off the main water valve in your home (mine is in the outside wall just inside the garage). This would tell you if there is a leak in the wall or a leak between the meter and your home.

I have heard of the expansion tank on the hot water heater going bad and leaking. But if that was the problem then I would expect you would see the water puddling somewhere.

[retiredguy123]

Toilets can leak intermittently, especially if the fill valve has a slow leak. Put some food dye in the tank and check often to see if the color goes to the bowl.

[Toymeister]

Install a remote water reader and monitor it yourself. Flume (which measures what the METER reads) or streamlabs, which measures what you USE. Both found on Amazon.

Meters have been replaced here in TV as faulty, the reps statements misinformed.

[Road-Runner]

"of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon" that makes me strongly believe no one has been reading your meter all this time and when they finally did you had used more water than you've been paying for. Heard of this happening before, curious what your next bill will be, probably closer to your average bill.

[Bugface]

We are also stumped and would like to know how many others have had similar issues, especially with the new smart-meters they have been using over past couple years.
Our experience: We turn our water off before heading north for summer and bills show zero usage for summer. Last month our reading showed 60,000 gal (non-irrigation) usage for the month even though water was still off (we have used only 13,000 gal TOTAL since we purchased year and a half ago)!! Just returned….no signs of water or leakage anywhere. Turned water back on, everything working fine. Was told when called water district “we haven’t had a single one of our smart meters fail.” Still trying to deal with them but without much luck. Thinking they get many, many calls since have been on hold for long periods….
Good luck with resolving your issue!

[retiredguy123]

"of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon" that makes me strongly believe no one has been reading your meter all this time and when they finally did you had used more water than you've been paying for. Heard of this happening before, curious what your next bill will be, probably closer to your average bill.
Good point. OP, I would suggest that you go online to districtgov.org and view several of your neighbors' water bills to see if they have the same billing pattern. That is public information. It could be that the meters are not being read every month.

[biker1]

You might want to check the meter (in the box in the ground typically between the houses, one for irrigation and one for potable water, check the one labeled "potable") to see if the value on the meter is close to the value on your bill.

We are also stumped and would like to know how many others have had similar issues, especially with the new smart-meters they have been using over past couple years.
Our experience: We turn our water off before heading north for summer and bills show zero usage for summer. Last month our reading showed 60,000 gal (non-irrigation) usage for the month even though water was still off (we have used only 13,000 gal TOTAL since we purchased year and a half ago)!! Just returned….no signs of water or leakage anywhere. Turned water back on, everything working fine. Was told when called water district “we haven’t had a single one of our smart meters fail.” Still trying to deal with them but without much luck. Thinking they get many, many calls since have been on hold for long periods….
Good luck with resolving your issue!

[DAVES]

"of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon" that makes me strongly believe no one has been reading your meter all this time and when they finally did you had used more water than you've been paying for. Heard of this happening before, curious what your next bill will be, probably closer to your average bill.

Interesting thought. Our water bill, they actually charge you more per gallon when you use more. If, that is what happened they were over billed through slight of hand. The OP does not say they are in the villages full time. Someone could be stealing water. I've seen companies filling trucks out of the fire hydrants. I doubt that is legal.

[DAVES]

We are also stumped and would like to know how many others have had similar issues, especially with the new smart-meters they have been using over past couple years.
Our experience: We turn our water off before heading north for summer and bills show zero usage for summer. Last month our reading showed 60,000 gal (non-irrigation) usage for the month even though water was still off (we have used only 13,000 gal TOTAL since we purchased year and a half ago)!! Just returned….no signs of water or leakage anywhere. Turned water back on, everything working fine. Was told when called water district “we haven’t had a single one of our smart meters fail.” Still trying to deal with them but without much luck. Thinking they get many, many calls since have been on hold for long periods….
Good luck with resolving your issue!

We all tend to use the phone. It is easy but often not wise. I recently had four different issues going with four different entities at the same time. That is way beyond my pain limit. A return receipt letter is proof you have taken action. A phone call, you can send a return receipt letter saying confirming my phone call to on x/xx/xx at x:00 am.

"We have not had a single one of our smart meters fail." What does that mean? The not so smart meters used just weeks ago now they do fail?

[Brad-tv]

Look at the meter and verify the numbers match the bill
Write down the numbers weekly see if it makes sense.
On average most homes ( 2- people) in the villages use 2-3000 gallons a month sometimes 5k depends on many factors and lifestyle.
Showers, laundry, dishwasher, hoses usage etc. and very possible a bad meter ( or neighbors/ contractors using your hose)

[Jerseygirl08]

I was told, about 2 months ago, that our water price was going to go up 8 percent in October. This came from a girl who works in that Department for TV. She was as shocked as I was. That may explain some of the increased water bills but not the OP.

[RICH1]

BAD FLAPPER or Gasket in Toliet Tank.... my guess

[laryb]

The lawn people would drive their riding mower over the meter box in the yard. The box is over the main lines for irrigation and potable water, and can almost touch them (in our case, they touched after the box settled over the years). I discovered that ours broke right below the box's edge. Of course the break was on our side of the meter, so we had to pay for the extra usage. Shut off the main and repaired it myself. They will give you a discount if you apply for one. Now we have it mowed by push mower

[walterray1]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

We do and had a similar issue. Turns out the auto refill was stuck and continually running which caused a very high water bill. Replaced it and eliminated the problem.

[fdpaq0580]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

A couple of years ago this happened to us. Went thru all the recommended steps to locate on our side of meter. Everything checked out fine. Several calls we finally got V water to send out a tech. Surprise, the meter was just out of "tolerance" and we were being over charged so tech replaced the meter. Did we ever get anything back for that one time outrageous bill? No. Not even an apology. Nothing. So, the lady who told you "NO" when you asked if they ever had to replace a faulty meter plainly LIED. People are reluctant to challenge those who seem aggressive, so by shutting down folks like us with questions like " could the problem be on your side" is standard practice in many places. Old days techs had to read and write the meter numbers. Lots of human error from beginning to end of billing process. Now, electronic billing should improve the accuracy, but there is ALWAYS a chance of a glitch somewhere in the process. Not just V water, but quite likely with any utility or service entity. Tell the complaining customer it HAS to be on their end (stone wall) so they will just pay and go away.

[MandoMan]

Look at the meter and verify the numbers match the bill
Write down the numbers weekly see if it makes sense.
On average most homes ( 2- people) in the villages use 2-3000 gallons a month sometimes 5k depends on many factors and lifestyle.
Showers, laundry, dishwasher, hoses usage etc. and very possible a bad meter ( or neighbors/ contractors using your hose)

Really? My usage is about 14,000 gallons a month, every month. I assumed that was due to watering, as I don’t use much in the house, and it didn’t go down when I was out of town for a couple months. Is 2-3,000 gallons for people without lawns?

[Catalina36]

You cannot be using house water with the main shut off valve closed. If the bill indicates usage of 60,000 gallons then there must be a break between the water meter and your house shut off valve. In addition you must be getting a sewer usage bill even when no one is there?? Ok, I am a snow bird and I just found out that your outside water garden hose connection is connected to your inside water meter so possibly your neighbor is using your garden hose connection when your not there to wash his car, driveway or house or what ever??? Something to think about?????? In addition your sewer usage bill is based on your household water usage because using the shower, faucets, toilet the water goes down the drain that's understandable. Now the outside water hose connection is connected to your in house water but that water does not go down the drain but yet your sewer bill is based on your in house water usage so you are being billed for water supposedly going down the drain but really your hose water is not!!!

[Luggage]

Demand a new meter . Period . Especially if you turn off the water in the front and your meter keeps turning or as the other person suggested you get your own flow meter and it's telling you different than what the outside meter is

[NoMo50]

Really? My usage is about 14,000 gallons a month, every month. I assumed that was due to watering, as I don’t use much in the house, and it didn’t go down when I was out of town for a couple months. Is 2-3,000 gallons for people without lawns?

Homes in the older parts of TV have one water meter that covers potable and irrigation water. Most homes now have separate meters for potable (house) water, and irrigation water. Sewer charges are based on usage of potable water. We are two people, here full time, and our house water usage averages about 2,100 gallons per month. A few hundred gallons more in the summer (more showering), a little less in the winter. Your exterior hose bibs are part of the potable water system as well.

[La lamy]

Meters fail and meter readers fail. It happened at my villa last winter. It's so disappointing when some workers easily deny their responsibility for their mistakes.

[The Caretaker]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

They lied to you!! We had a problem and did all the things you did. No problems. Then we decided to have a plumber look at the water meter. Yep there was the problem!! BAD METER. Took 2 mo and a good fight but they finally fixed it!!! For those looking at the word (fight) NOT PHYSICAL. Our house was on Sunflower St in Liberty Park. HAVE YOUR METER CHECKED.

[sjweigand]

In another local city I had the smart meter fail (50,000 gallons potable water and I was only home for 5 days). A person from the water department came out and determined the meter was bad. I was told that my old water department was replacing about 10 smart meters a month. Smart meters can and will fail.

[Garylj24]

Check your water meter to see if water is flowing through meter. If you have flow you may have a under slab leak. You can also check your temperature and pressure relief valve on your water heater

[Fltpkr]

Turn all the water off. Check the meter if it’s running you have a leak. If it’s not turning the meter may be bad.

Huh?

[Brad-tv]

Really? My usage is about 14,000 gallons a month, every month. I assumed that was due to watering, as I don’t use much in the house, and it didn’t go down when I was out of town for a couple months. Is 2-3,000 gallons for people without lawns?


All the home built south of 466 have two water bills. 1- for the home ( city water) and 1 for the irrigation ( repurposed water) .So if your north of 466 you have 1 bill combined total usage. A 14k gallons a month must be a total combined bill. And from what I’ve seen is about average for a combined bill.

[trippond]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

You haven’t mentioned whether or not you have a pool but if you do, check the auto fill hardware (just like a toilet valve) to ensure it isn’t stuck on. I had that problem and it cost me an additional 15,000 gallons before we realized it.

[biker1]

...

[tophcfa]

You haven’t mentioned whether or not you have a pool but if you do, check the auto fill hardware (just like a toilet valve) to ensure it isn’t stuck on. I had that problem and it cost me an additional 15,000 gallons before we realized it.

If that was a problem, you would notice a constant trickle of water coming out the overfill drainage line from the pool. Also, if it’s a salt water pool, you would notice that the salt level in the pool would rapidly decline as the constant filling and dumping of water would dilute the salt level.

[christine J Toft]

I know for a fact that they have had to replace meters. Happened to my family here in the Villages.

[snsaneholtz@gmail.com]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

My friend and I both have homes in the villages and we are both up north for the summer.
We both have been notified that are water usage is 5 or 6 times normal usage.
I have had both inside and outside areas checked for leaks and nothing has been found.
Something is WRONG!!! How can so many of us have the same problem?????

[pgettinger01]

Maybe you have a broken sprinkler head, toilet running... The water has two line items for house, and sprinkler. Which part of the water bill increased?

[Edcarney]

I have had the same issue as you. I did all the things you did and got the same answer.
I started checking my water meter myself. This last month it was accurate. However, one month my bill was 39,000 gallons at a home that had no occupants for 25 out of 30 days. Bottom line—-I have no clue regarding this issue.
Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

[MollyJo]

"of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon" that makes me strongly believe no one has been reading your meter all this time and when they finally did you had used more water than you've been paying for. Heard of this happening before, curious what your next bill will be, probably closer to your average bill.
Would the water bills say ‘estimated’?

[Kathryn Putt]

We had an extremely high water bill 2 months ago. After having the sprinkler system checked & no problems found, no leakage with sinks or toilets, and the water department checking the meter with no problems found there, we also are at a total loss. What could be the reason/answer for all these high bills?!?!

[BFISHER54]

If the flapper or gasket (depending on the toilet model) is bad it may run only intermittently. You need to be there when it does to hear it. Could be once an hour or more often. I’ve had to replace the gasket twice in two years. Easy and cheap fix.

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ?

[Wyseguy]

"of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon" that makes me strongly believe no one has been reading your meter all this time and when they finally did you had used more water than you've been paying for. Heard of this happening before, curious what your next bill will be, probably closer to your average bill.

I agree. If your bills never varied than I would propose they were estimate billing you. They have now actually read it, and gotten the ACTUAL current reading. Keep in mind, the excessive use that this bill shows would be the accumulation of all of those months that they had been estimate billing, not just for the current month. Start Jan 1 at 100. They estimate you use 10 per month, so for Feb thru Sept they bill 10 gal each month. They read the actual meter now, and it would show the extra ten gallonsfor each month.

[bjalt]

I had similar problems. Called in a plumber to test for leaks with no success. Then bought one of these:

Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DX6MP8X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

It monitors water flow as small as 1/100th gallon per min. Using the data generated by the Flume I pinpointed the leak in less than 24 hours. Problem now gone.

[Fltpkr]

We do and had a similar issue. Turns out the auto refill was stuck and continually running which caused a very high water bill. Replaced it and eliminated the problem.

Auto refill? Are you referring to a toilet tank water valve or something else?

[retiredguy123]

If the flapper or gasket (depending on the toilet model) is bad it may run only intermittently. You need to be there when it does to hear it. Could be once an hour or more often. I’ve had to replace the gasket twice in two years. Easy and cheap fix.
It's not always the flapper or gasket. A leaky fill valve will cause the same issue. The fill valve is located on the left side of the tank and adds water to the tank through the black rubber hose. If the valve has a slow leak, the tank water will overflow into the overflow pipe and the flapper/gasket will open for a short time.

[joelfmi]

Stumped on what to do/check next. Sorry about Title above, meant to type "Ideas", not "Ideals"... LOL. Here's the summary

. current water bill (not irrigation portion) showed 5 times the usage of the last 26 months of bills
. of those bills, the usage never varied by even a few gallon
. sewer usage was also a shocking amount of course
. started with checking toilets for constant running (no malfunctions)
. went on to all sinks, laundry included, bath, showers, etc. (no drips)
. checked under cabinets, outside hose connection, garage, everything we knew of connected to water use, no signs of dampness, nothing !
. finally called plumber who was the sub on building our home since he knew it and we have the original building specs
. he did a visual only (didn't run actual tests through all pipe in the walls since he said usage of that magnitude into the dry wall would show some signs of what was going on) and didn't charge us as he saw no signs of a possible reason

Where do we go from here ? Called to see if Village water department ever had an error when they read the meter, or had to replace a faulty meter. Lady said "NEVER, I can assure you you need to find the leak in your home", so end of that conversation. What to do ? my SELF BEING A MASTER SINCE YOU DID THE OVIOUS CHECK AND FOUNG NO LEAKING HIRE A LICENSED PLUMBER WITH AQUA PHONE GO ALL OVER YOUR PROPERTY WITH THIS DEVICE. THEIR ARE SOMETHINGS A DO IT SELF CANNOT DO THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

[fdpaq0580]

my SELF BEING A MASTER SINCE YOU DID THE OVIOUS CHECK AND FOUNG NO LEAKING HIRE A LICENSED PLUMBER WITH AQUA PHONE GO ALL OVER YOUR PROPERTY WITH THIS DEVICE. THEIR ARE SOMETHINGS A DO IT SELF CANNOT DO THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

This is good advice, but in the great majority of these cases the problem never reoccurs, causing me to believe that since no evidence of a problem is found home side of the meter the problem must lie on the supply side. That could be most anything from a meter that "slipped a gear" to data transfer reading error. And for you conspiracy enthusiasts, random induced error designed to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from random clients who never had a problem before and may never experience another. The very strong denial of ever having to replace a meter or ever having glitches of any kind on the supply would lend itself to that story line in a book.
One thing is sure, many of us have had the gigantic bill and others will have them in the future. And, the supplier will always deny that a problem or error could ever happen and they won't even bother to check.

[Pairadocs]

Turn all the water off. Check the meter if it’s running you have a leak. If it’s not turning the meter may be bad.

Thank you, will do that ! Kind of surprised the plumber didn't do that... but, maybe he did and that's why he said we might want to call the water company, but that was kind of a dead end, they said the meters are never "faulty", so that was that conversation ! Forgive the "dumb" question, but, is the "meter" the flat, black, metal disk in the yard on the lot line ? There is nothing like a meter in the garage where the main value is located and the plumber shut off all water. Meter on side of house appears to be electric.

[Pairadocs]

We are also stumped and would like to know how many others have had similar issues, especially with the new smart-meters they have been using over past couple years.
Our experience: We turn our water off before heading north for summer and bills show zero usage for summer. Last month our reading showed 60,000 gal (non-irrigation) usage for the month even though water was still off (we have used only 13,000 gal TOTAL since we purchased year and a half ago)!! Just returned….no signs of water or leakage anywhere. Turned water back on, everything working fine. Was told when called water district “we haven’t had a single one of our smart meters fail.” Still trying to deal with them but without much luck. Thinking they get many, many calls since have been on hold for long periods….
Good luck with resolving your issue!

Yes, we are also thinking something is really wrong here, especially how the villages water dept. lady was so .... seemed almost "defensive" and that concerned me because I was VERY careful not to insinuate in any way it was their "faulty", I simply told her what we had done and asked if someone could suggest next steps... and asked HOW I could schedule someone to check that the meter was calibrated corrected, and she immediately let me know there was no way there could be anything wrong with it and they don't need to be "checked" ! ! It was clear she did not want to give me any direction... !

[Pairadocs]

I know for a fact that they have had to replace meters. Happened to my family here in the Villages.

May I ask who you contacted to arrange to have it checked ? The water dept. listed for here in Sumter on the bill was not at all helpful, seems the meters are all "computerized" or something and never fail or need to be adjusted or changed. Can't even FIND the meter ! I assumed the plumber we called who found nothing wrong, checked it, perhaps not ?

[fdpaq0580]

May I ask who you contacted to arrange to have it checked ? The water dept. listed for here in Sumter on the bill was not at all helpful, seems the meters are all "computerized" or something and never fail or need to be adjusted or changed. Can't even FIND the meter ! I assumed the plumber we called who found nothing wrong, checked it, perhaps not ?

In my case the water meter is in the ground in the front yard lawn under a plastic rectangle. Also, in my case I called after each of their " suggestion" proved no problem and , after several calls insisting they send out a tech to show me how they test and let me observe or let me talk to their manage, letting them know that I would climb the ladder of bosses till I got a tech out that I could observe. Basically, I became a pain in the butt.

[fdpaq0580]

May I ask who you contacted to arrange to have it checked ? The water dept. listed for here in Sumter on the bill was not at all helpful, seems the meters are all "computerized" or something and never fail or need to be adjusted or changed. Can't even FIND the meter ! I assumed the plumber we called who found nothing wrong, checked it, perhaps not ?

Depending on your location you may actually have two water meters, one for home and one for irrigation. My irrigation meter shares a box with my neighbors and is in the lawn between our homes. In both cases the box is in a hole in the ground with a rectangular plastic cover on it at ground level. House water box is in the lawn in the front of the house. Good luck.

[twoplanekid]

My suggestion to all is to first call Customer Service at 352-750-0000, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday." If you live south of 466 and above 44, then NSCUDD is more than likely the public CDD water utility that has elected representatives that can present your issue to a higher level. If needed, please communicate with one of the board members for help in resolving your issue or attend one of our meetings to present your problem. We will try to help.
NSCUDD (https://www.districtgov.org/community/NSCUDD.aspx)


I, Rick Rademacher am on the board and meters do fail! The water rate increases have been running around 2.5 % per year although we just reduced the increase for those living between 466 and 466A to 1% per year.