Excessive Water Usage?

According to the wonderful water providers for my city, my family wastes/uses extraordinary amounts of water each day.  At least, that’s the only conclusion I can draw based on an EIGHT HUNDRED dollar bill.

After Jeff and I lifted our incredulous jaws off the ground, we tried to figure out exactly how much water we supposedly consumed in the two month period.  233 CCF’s didn’t mean anything to me or Jeff because we didn’t know what a CCF, or a hundred cubic feet equaled.  Imagine our surprise when we did the conversion and estimated that the water company’s records indicate that we used 175 THOUSAND GALLONS during the billing cycle.  175 Thousand gallons is roughly 2916 gallons of water used a day, or 121 gallons an hour,  or 2 gallons a minute AROUND the CLOCK.

WHOA.

When I called the water company, the customer service representative did acknowledge that it was a bit high.  (You think?)  So, she’s sending someone out to read my meter.  Not to worry though, if they find that the reading is correct, it probably just means they’ve under-read the meter the past few billing cycles.  I’m soooooooo relieved to hear that.

Should we still have a dispute after the meter is read then we can talk to a supervisor.  Score.

I have a better idea though.  Let’s just stop this madness, shall we?   Get us a new meter already.  One that is calibrated properly and reads the correct usage.   Your records should indicate that we’ve had issues before.  Like the time last summer when it cost us $600 to fill our pool when we estimated it should have cost under $100.

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About Angie

Angie is a CRAFT dabbling, recipe making, WORD loving, sunshine hording, book DEVOURING, Mama to a lot! She's kind of in love with Instagram right now, so if you want her attention, go find here there. {smiling}

Comments

  1. Umm Holy Crap. They are so lucky they aren’t dealing with me because this kind of stuff makes me so crazy and heads roll. I have been known to be heard loud with this kind of lunacy! Keep me posted! Estimated bills are such a lazy joke.

  2. wow we just got our engery bill and its the highest I ever seen too ..but its been hot up here too.

    Never had a water bill that much. Glad that you were able to dispute the amount.

  3. Wow! That’s scary. Sure hope you get that sorted out.

  4. Holy cow! I hope it was a mistake. That’s just craziness.

  5. Laurie Johnson says

    O My goodness!!!!!! what are they thinking???? some company’s are ridiculous….our cable company jsut did something like that on a smaller scale/same nature…so frustrating. good luck:)

  6. Oh my! I would definately be on their case until its taken care of.

  7. same thing happened to my bro…got stuck with a monster bill and they wouldn’t replace. so frustrating.

    anyway, maybe you should quite showering…you know and just smell. maybe they would be happy then!!

  8. Those kinds of experiences make me freeze with panic. I am just so convinced I will be the one left holding the flaming bag of poo that I just start yelling. Mr. has to take these over because I really just separate from reason. For some reason, the fact that I am responsible to pay on time doesn’t seem to impose a corresponding responsibility to maintain an accurate or reasonable system on the provider. Makes. Me. Nuts.

  9. That is freaky. Man, y’all should really cut back on the water. You only need 64oz a day, not 64 gallons. 🙂

  10. Oh.My.Gawd. I think I would have just died on the spot!!

  11. I’ve had a similar beef with the power company before—but their goofy calibrations also worked to my advantage where one time I got a power bill for a whopping $6.00 :). Can’t wait to hear how your story ends! Best to you!

  12. Yikes! I hope it’s your meter!

  13. I. Would. Freak. Holy Cow.
    Hope they get that worked out for you.

  14. I agree, time for a new meter!

  15. WOW! That is crazy 🙂 We have a rental house and the tenants called us and told us something was wrong b/c they received a $400 bill. They neglected to mention at that time that they left a hose on for days and days (I really don’t know how many days = $400). I hope that you don’t have a leak somewhere either. Take care!

  16. Any I get grumpy at $120 as a bill. WOW! Rain cistern?

  17. My jaw hit the floor when I read that $ amount! I will say though our bill does double in the summer as we water the yard but still only a couple of times a week and yet the bill is $120 a month right now. Anyway I hope they discover an error.

  18. Ummmmm, ya, my jaw would be on the floor too! For pete’s sake!

  19. Oh my word! My jaw would have been on the floor as well! Good grief!!!

  20. Shut the front door!!! I think I would have found my husband laying on the floor unresponsive (he’s the one that checks the mail)!!!! OMG I hope they get it figured out.

  21. Holy Cow!! I hope that is a mistake!! The highest utility bill I ever got was $400.00 gas bill – we now have averaged billing because it was not a mistake.

  22. Holly Crap!!! That’s crazy. I would demand a new meter esp since you’ve had issues in the past.

  23. Yikes! That’s a bill. Could be the meter, as you said. We had a high water bill this summer too, and it was because our toilet was leaking water — supposedly a frequent high-water-bill culprit.

  24. That’s insane!!
    I can’t wait to hear what the actual read-out is?!

    But honestly, all meter-reading aside, you have a 5 kids… it MUST take a lot of water to hydrate and clean up after them!

  25. That is just CRAZY!

  26. Holy cow. We had one that was really, really high when our sprinkler system broke. Apparently, it wasn’t enough of a leak for them to write it off…you have to waste a lot to get help. Totally doesn’t make sense.

  27. I sometimes believe that they just make up the amount on the water bill. I would have flipped at an $800 dollar bill!!!

  28. Are you kidding me??! That would make me cry. Big, stressful tears.

  29. $800!?!? I would vomit. Which would be bad because it would cost even more to use water to clean it up. But still, that makes me ill, just the thought.

  30. Woah!!! That is crazy!!! I would def. dispute!