A California woman who had never paid more than $60 for her monthly water service was recently hit with a staggering $2,659 water bill, but the utility provider insists nothing is wrong with her meter. [More]
City Says Woman Used 214,000 Gallons Of Water, All While Being Out Of Town For A Month
By March 21, 2013
84-Year-Old Woman Asks City How She Could Possibly Use 55K Gallons Of Water In A Month
By October 9, 2012
While we might never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (wait, did someone figure that out?) we can reasonably guess how much water a single woman uses in a month. And just to start things off, if the EPA says the average family of four uses around 12,000 gallons per month, what is the likelihood that an 84-year-old woman used 55,000 just by herself in that same time span? Highly unlikely, city of Sacramento! We call shenanigans. [More]
Water Company Wants Me To Pay $30 To Activate Service I Already Have
By August 16, 2012
A few years back, after the death of her parents, Consumerist reader Jen took over the running of the house in which she’d grown up. Since then, she’s been paying the bills without problem. But now the water company wants her to pay $30 simply to change the name on the account. [More]
Water Bill Jumps From $62 To $1,400. Will Cost $180 To Have Meter Inspected
By April 19, 2012
When your quarterly water bill goes up a few thousand percent after the city installs a new meter at your house, you’d think the utilities folks would want to take a look at that meter because it’s either broken or your house is about to float away. But not in New York City, where it will cost you $180 just for the privilege of having that meter inspected by a human being. [More]
Study Warns That Repairing The Nation's Water Systems Could Triple Your Bill
By February 28, 2012
Each time you fill up a glass of water or brush your teeth, maybe you’re trying to conserve water for nature’s sake, but you’re probably not overly worried about jacking up your water bill. That could change, as the price of overhauling our country’s drinking water system is likely to be a steep one, warns a new study — and that expense could be reflected in the water bills of many consumers. [More]
Man's Water Bill Jumps From 4,000 To 23,000 Gallons Per Month
By February 24, 2010
Reader Jim just got a water bill that says his usage has jumped up to 19,000 23,000 gallons per month from his usual 4,000. This is a guy who lives in a one-bath, one-toilet, one-sink house. “Must be that swimming pool I filled in the middle of winter in Western PA,” he says. So far, the utility has dismissed all his requests for explanation, or logic, and demanded he pay up immediately. [More]
Woman's Water Bill Jumps From $80 To $1,600
By February 22, 2010
Erica Kocur in Minneapolis received her water bill from the city, and it’s for $1,600, about 20 times what she normally pays. The city says it’s accurate, but KSTP-TV says that she would have had to use almost 200,000 gallons of water in one month to generate that figure. [More]
