Ideals about astounding water bill increase ?
 

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 ?

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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)

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.

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

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

Do you have a pool?
 

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.

Funny that sooo many have had this happen.
 

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.

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?

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!!!

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

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.

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.

Water be careful!
 

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.

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.

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

Huh?

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.

Water bill increase
 

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.

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

Something is wrong with water charges
 

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?????

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?

Same issue
 

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.

Would the water bills say ‘estimated’?

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?!?!

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.

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.

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

Amazon.com

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.

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