[QUOTE=Oregon sunshine]
We envision a massive lake
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Hardly a massive lake, but certainly a nice pond. Pond - Wikipedia
[QUOTE=NinetyWt]
I’d ask to have the meter read again. I agree with Mangetout, analog meters can be easily misread. Or, the computer program which prints the bills could be wrong.
[/QUOTE]
When I got my first apartment away from home, I received a ridiculously high water bill one month. At the time I was single and living in a one bedroom apartment. While I showered every day, I did not have a clothes washer there (I used the apartments’ laundry facility) and, as you might imagine for a bachelor, used the dishwasher about once every 7-12 days.
I figured there was something wrong, so I had the water company come check their meter, which would cost me a $25.00 service fee. They claimed the meter was in perfect working order, so I complained to the apartment management. Somebody there had the presence of mind to realize that when several of your tenants simultaneously notice abnormally high water bills, there could be a real problem.
Turns out the company had just switched over to a new computerized billing system and the amount of water I had been metered for was greatly exaggerated. I didn’t have to pay that month’s water bill or the service fee, so it ended up good for me.
[QUOTE=Oregon sunshine]
Hey all,
thanks for your replies. The trouble with this situation is that the meter that was read during the 19 days has been replaced with a new one. I’m calling the utility monopoly today to ask where the meter is… I’m sure it was misread or defective, and hopefully it still exists. regardless, it helps to have concrete images of the masses of water which are supposedly involved… I’ll be sure to let them know that a 20’ pool or railroad tank car of water would have to have leaked per day to cause the charges; however, the customer service drone we talked to yesterday didn’t even bat an eye when I opined that a swimming pool full of water would have to have leaked per day. Hopefully, we will talk to someone today who isn’t trained not to think. Again, thank you!
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Does anyone else feel :dubious: about the fact that they changed out the meter? IMO, the water company knew/knows that your meter was defective, and is trying to get you to pay for their oops.
Call the state attorney general’s office and local media.
[QUOTE=picunurse]
Does anyone else feel :dubious: about the fact that they changed out the meter? IMO, the water company knew/knows that your meter was defective, and is trying to get you to pay for their oops.
Call the state attorney general’s office and local media.
[/QUOTE]
Sounds more like a standard meter-switching balls-up to me. Normally in that situation they either set the new meter to read the same as the old one they replace, or record the closing count of one and the opening count of the other (i.e. zero). All it needs is for someone to read the meter wrong or punch in a number wrong, and blammo.
It sometimes amazes me how slack companies can be about meters. I once lived in a building that had been split into 3 apartments. There were three meters. No-one knew which meter belonged to which flat, and when I moved in I adopted the meter that was unclaimed by either of the other two flats. We all wrote off with our readings, paid our bills, and everything was fine until the gas company sent someone around to take an ‘official’ reading. :eek:
When I called up to dispute my £500 quarterly gas bill (for a two-bedroom apartment in summer) it emerged that the gas company had no record which meter belonged to who either. They got in touch with Transco (the pipeline company who owned the meters) who also had no idea, but volunteered that their usual way of solving this problem was to arrange arrange a day when someone would be home in each flat, send a bloke round, we would turn on all the appliances and the central heating in one flat, note which meter spun round faster, and repeat for each of the other two flats. Genius! :rolleyes:
In the end we shuffled round the offical readings to match our ‘adopted’ meters and all was good…
[QUOTE=GusNSpot]
If they do not get a clue the next time you talk to them, go straight to your county water commission and tell them what the water company is doing.
After that, in turn, the BBB and then to the media.
[/QUOTE]
You might actually get your picture in the local rag anyway; “Area man grossly overcharged by fat cat water company” or some such. Picture of your grinning mug next to exorbitant bill - worth a try.
Thames Water which serves 13 million people in London and the South East, last year managed to lose a cool 894 million litres of water per day in leakages, which was a bit careless of them.
[QUOTE=Vetch]
Thames Water which serves 13 million people in London and the South East, last year managed to lose a cool 894 million litres of water per day in leakages, which was a bit careless of them.
[/QUOTE]
You’ve got to love their current ad campaign though. A picture of a London landmark such as the Tower full of water. The strapline is that their new pipes will soon save this much water per day. i.e. their current pipes are wasting at least this much per day.
Luckily I only have to use them for sewage. I’m on the edge and we get our water from one company and sewage from another.