So we just got out water bill which is normally around 20$ and its 140$. The water portion is like 85 and the sewage is like 55. How could it possibly go up that much in one month and will the water company do something about it if its a mistake?

11/2/2008 7:38:02 PM

it sounds like you have a leak somewhere or your bill was estimated

11/2/2008 7:39:11 PM

the only real 2 options are leak or estimated bill

11/2/2008 7:46:50 PM

it sounds like your normal water bill is just estimated and they finally checked your meter

11/2/2008 7:46:54 PM

the only real 2 options are leak or estimated bill

11/2/2008 7:47:55 PM

the only real 2 options are lots of hot food and lots of mexican food

11/2/2008 8:03:28 PM

I would say you prolly got a leak somewhere...may want to investigate

11/2/2008 8:08:27 PM

the only real 2 options are leak or estimated bill

11/2/2008 8:16:12 PM

How can it possibly be legal to charge for "estimated" usage?

11/2/2008 8:18:34 PM

What does estimated usage mean? That for the past year they have been estimating our use and maybe been below a couple dollars each month and now its being corrected?

11/2/2008 8:26:20 PM

check your toilets... does it sound like they continue to run and run after you flush? if so, maybe something wrong with the toilets...this happened once before..

my folks also had a leak in the water pipe under their yard...had to get it dug up and replaced...

11/2/2008 8:28:10 PM

estimated means they save money by not sending a person out to your house for a few months and bill you based on estimates based on things i'm not really sure of but i'd assume time of year and past habits are included

the problem with that system is if they way under estimated then last month finally sent someone out to actually check the meter, you end up with a huge ass bill. it is indeed legal. i've seen it on the news when people get hit with huge bills--usually it's something other than water though so it amounts to a lot more.

another problem i would assume with that system is if you had a water leak in the mean time, you'd have basically not known about it for a month or tww since your bill would have been relatively the same

[Edited on November 2, 2008 at 8:32 PM. Reason : asdf]

11/2/2008 8:31:39 PM

We actually have had a problem with one of our toilets the last two-three months. The toilet started leaking due to the stopper or something breaking, our landlord came and did what he could to fix it but he couldn't get it working 100%. Now when we use the toilet we have to wait for it ourselves and make sure the stopper closes so water stops flowing. But it typically only takes 10 seconds or so before we can close it ourselves if it doesn't work on its own, I can't imagine this would result in that much larger of a water bill.

If it were due to that, would this be something our landlord is responsible for? The townhouse next to us said they also had lots of toilet problems about a year ago, and he admitted it was his fault that the piece inside broke as it was old.

11/2/2008 8:31:47 PM

you'd be surprised at how much a small leak/toilet running can affect your bill, even if it's only for a relatively short time. i would think your landlord would be responsible for that since he decided to play plumber and screwed up. at the least, if he's a good landlord he should be willing to help even if he's not legally bound to.

and no, before anybody says it you can't get the bill adjusted by the city, at least not in raleigh. anything past the meter is on the homeowner. they used to help people out with main water line breaks and other things, but no more.

11/2/2008 9:27:32 PM

I used to get a bullshit water bill about every 4 months. Just call them and say that your bill was abnormally high and request them to reread your meter. Their meter readers are real crackheads, so chances are your new bill will be what you were expecting.

11/2/2008 9:46:11 PM

it sounds like you have a leak somewhere or your bill was estimated

11/2/2008 10:08:51 PM

Quote :

"for a month or tww"

ahahahaha

time to get off tww carson

11/3/2008 12:00:12 AM

So our bill wasn't estimated and there is no leak according to the water company. Leaving the only possibility to be the toilet problem. As said previously, the stopper doesn't go all the way down and we have to jiggle it to get the toilet to fill up. It usually results in the toilet running an extra 5-10 seconds, but on times where we forget about it it can be a couple of minutes. This problem came from a broken piece and our landlord trying to fix it but not following through. If this resulted in the higher bill, is this his responsibility to pay?

11/3/2008 11:14:19 AM

Why dont you politely explain the situation to him and ask him for a discount on rent or something.

Be reasonable, not demanding.

If all else fails and you are a current student, go to student legal services and talk to them.

11/3/2008 11:20:38 AM

[link]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA[/link]

[Edited on November 3, 2008 at 11:22 AM. Reason : ....]

11/3/2008 11:22:11 AM

have you actually compared the reading on the bill to the reading on the meter yet?


best way to tell if you have a leak somewhere is to make sure everything in the house that uses water is off, then look at the meter, the little dial should be completely stopped

11/3/2008 11:48:33 AM

Yeah it is. There is not a leak. I'm assuming at this point that the cause is due to the toilet not flushing correctly, there might have been a time where we forgot and let it run longer. However its a pain in the ass to have to stand around the toilet after flushing every time we use it to make sure it shuts off, especially when its due to my landlords inability to fix a simple problem.

11/3/2008 12:10:52 PM

ha, LivinProof78 needs to post here.

11/3/2008 12:14:51 PM

Go read your meter, then call them.
I've had a mis-read meter- or a typo in the meter reading before.
Just tell them what the meter actually reads then get them to check out their paperwork.

11/3/2008 12:17:57 PM

^ he just fuckin said two posts above you that it is correct, dumbass

11/3/2008 12:23:48 PM

we had this problem as well, we just shut off the water in the 2 bathrooms we dont use as often because they would just keep running

11/3/2008 2:00:29 PM

the only real 2 options are lots of hot food and lots of mexican food

11/3/2008 2:17:56 PM

or you could spend $4 and 5 min and fix the damn toilet with a new flapper and properly adjusting the float

11/3/2008 6:54:04 PM

Quote :

"^ he just fuckin said two posts above you that it is correct, dumbass"

no, he was talking about seeing if they have the right value from the meter. the post above was confirming that the dial wasn't moving. different things.

11/3/2008 7:12:13 PM

^^seriously. this thread is getting silly. get the damn toilet fixed, end of problem.

11/3/2008 7:52:26 PM

Funny you should mention this -- 2 months ago I got a bill about 90% higher than usual. I called them, and apparently my meter stopped working correctly 4 months ago. Obviously I paid no mind to the really low bills the couple months prior, but the water co. tacked on my last month PLUS the botched readings without even telling me. Cute.

11/3/2008 8:11:41 PM

I dont know but the high water bill could be because you have been running a lot of water

11/3/2008 10:43:31 PM

Quote :

"I dont know but the high water bill could be because you have been running a lot of water"

I bet they take a lot of dumps too.

11/3/2008 10:46:36 PM