Talk of The Villages Florida - Outragous Water Bill

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That's a lot of water. Our drains are all closed when we aren't here, and were closed upon our arrival, so a faucet leak would have been obvious regardless of the amount of flow. I appreciate all the information.

Sounds to me that somewhere along the line there was a big error. Maybe the meter reading device malfunctioned or something like that. Or maybe a computer error.

Happy Snowbird-- If you send me your phone number in a private message thru this site, I will come over and read your meter for you.

That at least will show if the meter was read properly.

I posted earlier (#14) that we had a SECO bill with a total of $100+ more than we had ever had in 11 years here.

We called SECO said they would have a guy out to re-read meter and call us before bill due. Bill came due and no call. We called they apologized for not getting back to us. They did misread the meter deducted the overcharge and we made payment

They have been replacing many of the water meters in areas that are 10-12years old. Did you notice if you have a new meter where the reading started over at 0?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Villages07....Per the water utility, our water meter has not been replaced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Snowbird (Post 1463498)

I hear what you are saying of a possible leak. The billing period stopped 9/21 and the water co said there was no usage from 9/20 to 10/3, the date I spoke with them. If there is a leak wouldn’t there have been usage from 9/29 to 10/3? I last spoke to them on 10/16 and water usage was minimal...homewatch flushes toilets, runs dishwater...again how could there be a leak? Normal usage in our absence is 30 gals. The high usage was for water/sewer so the irrigation shouldn't come into play? The info from the water co is so conflicting....high usage to minimal usage. Certainly glad the usage is back to normal but leaves a lot of unexplainable causes for the one month excessive use....18,850 gals!

What dates did your homewatch service check your house? My guess is that they came in, turned on the water to flush toilets etc and left without turning it off. One of the toilets valves stuck open and the water ran in your toilet for a week before they came back the next week. My grandaughter left the toilet running one time at my house in NC and in 2 hours it went through almost 300 gallons in those 2 hours so 19000 gallons in a week is not a stretch. Where my house is in NC they have a system called Aquastar and I can actually see water usage by the hour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Snowbird (Post 1465987)

Graciegirl....I'm not saying anyone did anything intentionally and I'm not looking for "blame". I just want to know how I could use 19,000 gals when not even here. When we are here our usage is ~3,000. I do know there is no underground leak because, as I've stated before, there were several days after the 19,000 with "0" usage....a leak would have shown some usage. I have confidence in my homewatch who comes weekly. If she had left the water on it would have only been for a week. A leak of 19,000 gals would have flooded my house or if outside would have shown water laying on the surface. I put food coloring in my toilet tanks and it did not leak into the toilet bowl. So....where is the problem? I asked if I could have gotten someone elses bill, "no"; could my usage be an accumulaton of more than one meter reading, "no". After this month's bill I am going to speak to the person in charge at the water utility and continue on up from there. I feel I deserve answers and that I have legitimate reasons as mentioned above that it couldn't have been a leak. I took pictures over a 2 hour period showing no food coloring leaked into the toilet bowl and will do several more times. Again, I'm not looking for "blame", only answers. I really would like someone to say that 19,000 gals is unusual, let me check into it rather than an immediate "no" or the more popular "I don't know".

If your home watch person did not turn the water off and a toilet flapper did not close completely after flushing, 19,000 gallons going down the drain in a week is very possible. Your house will not flood with it going down the drain. Just time how long it takes to fill your toilet tank and do the math. And just because it failed that one time doesn't mean it will fail every time you test it. However it will fail again sometime. This can and will happen. Ask any plumber and they will tell you how many times they have seen this happen.

I agree with many of the replies. Rather than considering that having the water off proves that the meter is bad, you should consider that the meter proves that the water was not shut off. I would be talking to your home watch.

Please let me know if you get any results. My first water bill was for 57,000 gal--and we were gone a week that month. No usage. Also said we must've had a "leak", water running, etc. They wouldn't budge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marathon Man (Post 1466368)

I side with you.

AND there is a lot of discussion on water bills stored on this forum. Type in "water bill" in search above and you can go back several years.

Here is one;

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ght=Water+bill