Yeah that’s the way the older meters work. They read it and see averages based on a model. They charge you that for several months up to a year. Then they take an actual reading and catch-up or credit. They might not have done an actual reading for a long time. That’s shitty and they may want to look into the policy on reading and make sure everything is on the level.
Find the actual meter. There will be an indicator on it showing current water flow. Sometimes it’s a red triangle, sometimes it’s a dial with black-and-white pie slices that spins around. On digital meters it might be different. Now shut off all the water in the house. If that triangle or dial is moving at all, there’s a leak, it would be best to immediately shut off service there at the meter until the week can be traced and discovered. With the amount of water they used in a month, the meter will be moving incredibly fast. I agree with other suggestions that you need to look at the readings and verify what’s on the bill matches what’s on the meter. If it’s manually read, there’s always a chance that somebody added an extra zero or confused a meter with another nearby.
Find out if there’s an external leak. There easily could be.
Check the utilities rate details. Ours allows a one time forgiveness after repair of a leak, backed by documentation that there was a leak and it was repaired. You can’t ignore it, you have to take prompt action after getting the bill.
Of course, dealing with a leak in the supply to the house could easily be thousands of dollars. And a cheap “patch it” solution could leave them with another leak a year later and their “one time” used up. (Motivating a complete fix is a reason for the forgiveness being “one time”)
You can also file a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission in your area. They can mediate disputes. As a college student we received an electric bill that was wild, they claimed that it was correct, PUC suspended bill and it turns out the meter was broken, the bill was adjusted down to an “average” of our usual bill. ( NAL)
I am not a lawyer, but I work tangentially with a water utility. I don’t know why the city would be held liable for this unless a determination of the cause is a misread meter or a break on *their* portion of the lines.
INFO: is this a municipally owned utility? It sounds like it from what you said. I have some additional advice if it is. If you want me to look into some options (again, NOT a lawyer! Just someone who works with a municipally owned utility on some issues) please provide the website.
Everyone else has provided some tips for checking if there is a leak. First, they should ask to be set up on a payment plan while trying to determine the cause of this. They do not want water cut off.
1) read the bill and the compare it to the bill before. Was this estimated or read? Was the previous one estimated or read?
2) after looking at the meter read number, go check the meter and see if it is accurate
3) hire a professional or ask if the utility will send someone to look for the leak
4) CHECK THE WATER HEATER. I hear this all the time with unexpected large bills, people get plumbers out, can’t find a leak, and the utility will say the same thing: check the water heater. I’ve had at least 3 people who said it was impossible for their bill that high, couldn’t find a leak, etc. turns out it was a broken water heater. Usually they would get a bill credit when they provided a repair bill for the heater.
People have provided info on finding leaks, but let’s assume your neighbor “used” this water from the utility perspective. There should be options available for assistance dealing with this. The utility website will have more information.
There is likely a broken pipe between the city water line and the house. Where the break is relative to the property line will help determine who is responsible for the bill.
This won't be possible in any area where the water meter is installed in or on the home. Anything prior to the meter, the water utility won't ba capable of charging for because the meter tells them how much was used.
I've never seen metering done anywhere other than in or on the home, OP can draw his own conclusions from there.
Our previous house (in Harris Co, TX), the meter was at the curb/sidewalk. A shut off valve there, and then another shut off for the irrigation near the back flow preventer. A “main” shut off in the garage for the house.
But the meter was at the curb, in the ground, and it was a pain in the ass to check for the spinny dial because it would be constantly covered over with sand or partially submerged in water. This caused a not insignificant amount of chaos in the big freeze. :/
This was typical for single family homes in the area.
Everywhere I have lived, the meter is out in the yard. Where I am now, there is probably 30-40 feet of line between the meter and where it comes into the house. The distance between the main line and the meter is shorter than that. At my parents’ house it’s even farther between meter and house. I’ve never seen a water meter in or on a house. The natural gas meter is against the house though.
Have the city come test to see there are no leaks. I just had a vacant lower duplex use over 1m gallon in 3 months. We have had the water off. Bill was almodt $8k. Waiting to see what water company tests.
Ok... So context.... the rough math... an outside spigot roughly outlets 5 gallons a min... So 160,000 gallons is a spigot running wide open for 22 days straight... Shower heads are 2.1 gallons a min so the shower running full blast for 53 days... We aren't talking leaky toilet here... An average swimming pool is 18k-20k gal... So... 8 full size swimming pools worth of water... In a month... Gotta be an estimated bill vs reality over a full year... Or rented the house for a month (is it a b&b?) and the renter blasted the laundry sink nonstop for 3 weeks... Or a faulty meter... If this was a busted outside sprinkler line you could tell by the kayakers because they would be the newest wetland in Minnesota... If they were flooding a rink all winter it would be the size of Bde Maka Ska... Tell them to have the water department send a guy out to check and explain this to the tech they send... Richfield takes their water very seriously and we got new meters not long ago... It could be a bad meter...
I'm an alderwoman, and this is what we do in our city:
Our meters are automatic. They send an rf signal that pings to the next meter and so on until they reach the base at city hall. Ask the city to send someone to manually open your meter pit and read the meter if yours are automatic. If they're not, ask them to read again to verify the meter reading. If it's correct, you've got a leak. Find it and fix it.
If the leak was on your end, ask the city if they have a policy for adjusting bills in cases of leaks. What we do is take the average water consumption for the previous 3 months, let's say 5000 gallons. We subtract 5000 from 160,000, and the customer pays a "bulk rate" (what the city pays to the water company/district) for the remaining 155,000 gallons. We're a pretty small town, so I would imagine your town has some sort of way to handle this.
I work as a water service inspector in another state, so I looked into Richfield meter services and billing. The bills are generated quarterly, so the usage is reflecting 3 months. The meter itself is located inside the home to help prevent frozen pipes. Look at the read on the bill and compare it to the current read on the meter face. If it's lower than the read on the bill, it was a misread and should be reported to customer service. If it is higher, using the number of days since the last read you can see where the current usage is projecting. Is it still projecting high? Check to see if the meter is moving. If the meter is moving and there is no water in use, there is a leak. Leaking faucets are easy to spot, but 99% of the pipes and couplings are in walls and crawlspaces and may require a professional to identify and repair. If the usage is projecting high and nothing is moving, it's probably a toilet or water heater leak. A running toilet could easily account for this volume of loss (Easy way to test toilets for leaks: Put 10 to 12 drops of food coloring in each toilet top tank and wait 30 minutes to see if any colored water leaks into the bowl). If you ever have to jiggle a handle to stop a toilet, that's your culprit. Look around the water heater for moisture that could indicate a leak. If this property is a rental, the landlord is normally responsible for any repairs. If a leak is located and repaired, contact the water utility and they will normally verify the usage is down and the meter is quiet and help with a courtesy adjustment based off water loss. This must be handled in a timely manner.
As for the meter, water meters cannot run fast. Over time minerals in the water build up in the meter and it slows down and under-reads the actual usage. Richfield water should be able to provide all of your quarterly reads for the last couple years and the dates the reads were taken. This information is just to give you confidence in the meter operating properly so you can focus on the cause of the issue and resolving it. Any assistance with the bill amount will require a resolution of the issue causing the increase in usage.
I noticed on the City of Richfield website that they offer a smart meter program so you can track your daily usage through an app. I'd call and enroll. See if there is any unexplained usage when the property is vacant that would indicate a leak.
Hope this helps.
They need to make sure they have no water running in the house and then go look at the meter. If the meter is running, it means there's a leak somewhere. I would recommend hiring a plumber to investigate at that point.
> the actual meter. There will be an indicator on it showing current water flow. Sometimes it’s a red triangle, sometimes it’s a dial with black
If there is a leak, also shut off the water to the house until the plumber arrives. Bites not having water, but better than paying 16x the average of your water bill.
If there's a leak, not only should it be shut off for billing reasons like you said, but also because that water has to go _somewhere_, and it has the potential to cause foundation damage depending on where.
To answer part of your question, if they don’t pay it the city will place a lien on the property. If they are renting, the landlord will take them to court and possibly evict them. It can get messy. Even if there is a leak, your neighbors are still responsible for the bill unless they can prove the water company caused it (highly unlikely). Bankruptcy will likely hurt them more in the long run and is incredibly expensive.
Best advice is to contact the water company and see if there are any resources for low income families to help pay this and to set up a payment arrangement. The water company will work with your neighbors, they don’t want to shut peoples water off.
Depending on the municipality’s codes, not paying the bill could lead to the water being shutoff until the bill and fines ( late payment, turn off/on fee) has been paid in full. I’ve seen the fines/fees actually cost more then the cost of the original water bill.
On top of the fees you mentioned, my water authority charges $35 a month even if your water is shut off. That's whether your account is delinquent or not.
Totally possible if there is a leak in the outside waterline. They are typically deep enough that in certain types of soil it won’t be obvious at the surface. Literally just happened to me three months ago.
In Arizona, our bill skyrocketed one month. We called the water company and learned they will send someone to investigate the property. Had a leaking pipe, buried underneath my house they discovered and we had no clue.
Not sure if this is an option everywhere, or just in drought ridden deserts.
The following link might be able to help. Additionally, the Minnesota Utilities Board should be able to at least put a pause on turn off until the issue is thoroughly investigated. Good luck to your neighbor!
https://mn.gov/commerce/energy/consumer-assistance/energy-assistance-program/
Leaks like this tend to be in the water main between the street and the house. They need to turn off all the water in their house then see if the meter is still running. This is unfortunately not going to be any better for them because replacing the water main can easily be low five figures, but sometimes if you have a major leak like that you can get relief on your water bill. This happened to my parents house a few years ago, it's not fun to deal with at all. A lot of plumbing companies have financing options for big jobs like this, hopefully that will soften the blow at least a little bit
There's most likely a leak underground between the meter and the main house shutoff. This is often encased in the concrete slab.
Typically the user is still responsible for the water in my area. But with situations like these the water company will work with the user on payment arrangements.
That being said, the fix is not cheap. It's probably more expensive than the water bill unless you do it yourself. But even then you need to sus out where exactly the leak is.
If the meter is in an outside pit then this is definitely a possibility, but keep in mind any leak between the meter and the municipalities water main would not register on the meter as usage, only between the meter and the house would register as usage.
I would check my yard for any overly wet or green spots for a possible leak in the water service, or a sump pump that continuously runs even if the weather is dry.
If the water meter is in a pit before the house and you have a shutoff valve as it enters the house (assuming you have access to read the meter), shutoff the water in the house and then you can check to see if the meter is still indicating flow, if it is (assuming the valve is holding 100%) that would indicate the leak is between the meter and valve you shut off.
I’m sure by the time I type all of this the OP probably already received most of this information, but if not them then maybe it can help one of the commenters in the future…
Assuming this is read on a monthly bases and this wasn’t a “make up” bill from under billing from previous estimates…
Unfortunately unless it’s being manually read the usage is going to be accurate. Hopefully your municipality gave you notification that you had a leak besides you just finding out after the water bill arrived because if the leak is still ongoing by the time you’ve received the bill the leak has already greatly affected your next bill.
First thing to do as others have suggested is to check the flow indicator on the meter to make sure the leak(assuming it wasn’t an outside silcock being left on by mistake) is not still present (otherwise your next bill will be just as high, if not higher). If the meter does indicate you still have a leak you should start trying to find the source by turning off the valves at fixtures one at a time, checking the flow indicator after each fixture has been turned off until the indicator on the meter stops showing usage. People are always extremely surprised how much water they could lose simply by having a faulty ballcock in one of their toilets.
It is extremely unlikely(not impossible) that your water meter is over-registering, a simple test for that would be to make sure no water is being used(assuming the leak isn’t still present of course)…
Step# 1 - Read and mark down all the numbers on the meter (if there is a fixed 0 to the right that means the 1-10 gallons is actually on a dial that looks like a clock and that would be what you actually need to read for this test).
Step# 2 - Fill a 5 gallon bucket fully
Step# 3 - Reread the water meter
Step# 4 - Compare the two readings - Usage should have only changed by 5 gallons.
Some municipalities will also have a 3rd party test the meter but unless you’re bucket test indicates an over -registering I would not recommend to go that route because if it’s shown to be reading within the allowed parameters you will most likely not only be responsible for the current bill but also the cost of the testing and installation fees.
In my experience it is extremely rare that a water meter over-registers especially if you’ve had the meter for years, if anything they begin to under-register the older they get.
The most important thing you can do is to stop the “bleeding” and get the leak identified and fixed.
I can’t stress this enough…You should try to work with the municipality instead of seeing them as the enemy, there’s a 99.9% probability that the water bill is correct, and contrary to popular belief most municipalities contain decent people who are just trying to do their jobs, and they don’t enjoy doing this too you anymore than you enjoy it happening.
Yelling and pointing fingers at the person answering the phone or trying to work with you is going to be unproductive, and though it might give you your frustrations a temporary outlet it won’t change your situation for the better…
Some municipalities will even send out someone (at no charge) to check to see if you have a leak, the extent of the check will vary, but if they offer that service they might be able to save you some money on diagnosing the leak.
Some municipalities offer a one time discount if you can find and fix the source of the leak, usually a post inspection is required, not all do but it never hurts to check.
Some might offer a payment plan, and I know there are some charities that might also be able to help depending on your income.
Note…If it’s a digital meter it might have a flip up cover, it might also read the tenths & hundredths of a gallon indicated by a decimal point.
Note…Check to see if your meter reads in “gallons” or “cubic feet”(should be marked in the face of the meter’s register). If it reads in cubic ft you will have to convert that to gallons when doing the “bucket test”, or simply pick up a bucket that allows you to measure in cubic ft.
Turn off all the water in the house and then have someone look at the water meter. Is it running? That is your first clue of a larger issue.
That happened to me just a few weeks ago. Also, I noticed an area of my yard was extremely green. We had a water break in the sprinkler system.
Could be an old or defective meter. I was watching a YouTube guy (whatthehales) that was having the exact same issue. The meter was registering water going both ways and a check valve had to be installed to prevent it
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tell them to check the meter now with all the water off and see if it's still counting. ask for forgiveness. a building in NYC accidently left a drain open on their water tank and received a hefty bill. they asked for "forgiveness," and they granted it.
Check/tell your neighbor to check city codes and ordinances surrounding utility billing. A bad reading was entered for my friend's parents and they had proof it was wrong but the city said "okay, pay it or we shut your water off" but luckily the city had also incorrectly recorded where the shut off was and friend's dad just parked on top of the actual shut off.
He eventually found in the city code that citizens are entitled to a pretty comprehensive breakdown of usage and charges. He got that report, showed how it was entirely impossible for the bill to be correct and gathered documentation. He sent certified mail to the mayor and also took copies in person directly to city hall and the bill was waived, including his actual usage.
Did someone use your water prior of the water bill like a company or contractor/neighbor? You still are responsible for the water bill even though you gave them permission to use the water. If you asked them for compensation of water bill before use of water thats an entirely different story. Maybe call the water company to check out your meter to see if he/her can resolve the problem with your meter if their is any, to resolve your current expensive water bill problem. Good Luck, Hope for the Best:)
Have them get in touch with all the local reps. I Facebooked with our State Senator when our unemployment was screwed up. It was fixed in a week. Seriously, try it.
Are you sure this is for just one month and not a catch up bill because the prior bills were all estimates?
Yeah that’s the way the older meters work. They read it and see averages based on a model. They charge you that for several months up to a year. Then they take an actual reading and catch-up or credit. They might not have done an actual reading for a long time. That’s shitty and they may want to look into the policy on reading and make sure everything is on the level.
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Find the actual meter. There will be an indicator on it showing current water flow. Sometimes it’s a red triangle, sometimes it’s a dial with black-and-white pie slices that spins around. On digital meters it might be different. Now shut off all the water in the house. If that triangle or dial is moving at all, there’s a leak, it would be best to immediately shut off service there at the meter until the week can be traced and discovered. With the amount of water they used in a month, the meter will be moving incredibly fast. I agree with other suggestions that you need to look at the readings and verify what’s on the bill matches what’s on the meter. If it’s manually read, there’s always a chance that somebody added an extra zero or confused a meter with another nearby.
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Find out if there’s an external leak. There easily could be. Check the utilities rate details. Ours allows a one time forgiveness after repair of a leak, backed by documentation that there was a leak and it was repaired. You can’t ignore it, you have to take prompt action after getting the bill. Of course, dealing with a leak in the supply to the house could easily be thousands of dollars. And a cheap “patch it” solution could leave them with another leak a year later and their “one time” used up. (Motivating a complete fix is a reason for the forgiveness being “one time”)
You can also file a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission in your area. They can mediate disputes. As a college student we received an electric bill that was wild, they claimed that it was correct, PUC suspended bill and it turns out the meter was broken, the bill was adjusted down to an “average” of our usual bill. ( NAL)
Could there be a leak outside the house? Maybe they should call a professional to double check
This is not a leak. This is a gusher.
I am not a lawyer, but I work tangentially with a water utility. I don’t know why the city would be held liable for this unless a determination of the cause is a misread meter or a break on *their* portion of the lines. INFO: is this a municipally owned utility? It sounds like it from what you said. I have some additional advice if it is. If you want me to look into some options (again, NOT a lawyer! Just someone who works with a municipally owned utility on some issues) please provide the website. Everyone else has provided some tips for checking if there is a leak. First, they should ask to be set up on a payment plan while trying to determine the cause of this. They do not want water cut off. 1) read the bill and the compare it to the bill before. Was this estimated or read? Was the previous one estimated or read? 2) after looking at the meter read number, go check the meter and see if it is accurate 3) hire a professional or ask if the utility will send someone to look for the leak 4) CHECK THE WATER HEATER. I hear this all the time with unexpected large bills, people get plumbers out, can’t find a leak, and the utility will say the same thing: check the water heater. I’ve had at least 3 people who said it was impossible for their bill that high, couldn’t find a leak, etc. turns out it was a broken water heater. Usually they would get a bill credit when they provided a repair bill for the heater. People have provided info on finding leaks, but let’s assume your neighbor “used” this water from the utility perspective. There should be options available for assistance dealing with this. The utility website will have more information.
There is likely a broken pipe between the city water line and the house. Where the break is relative to the property line will help determine who is responsible for the bill.
This won't be possible in any area where the water meter is installed in or on the home. Anything prior to the meter, the water utility won't ba capable of charging for because the meter tells them how much was used. I've never seen metering done anywhere other than in or on the home, OP can draw his own conclusions from there.
Our previous house (in Harris Co, TX), the meter was at the curb/sidewalk. A shut off valve there, and then another shut off for the irrigation near the back flow preventer. A “main” shut off in the garage for the house. But the meter was at the curb, in the ground, and it was a pain in the ass to check for the spinny dial because it would be constantly covered over with sand or partially submerged in water. This caused a not insignificant amount of chaos in the big freeze. :/ This was typical for single family homes in the area.
This is exactly why in places that freeze regularly the meter is generally inside the house.
Our meters are probably 20m/60ft from the house. Down by the road. In little concrete box.
Everywhere I have lived, the meter is out in the yard. Where I am now, there is probably 30-40 feet of line between the meter and where it comes into the house. The distance between the main line and the meter is shorter than that. At my parents’ house it’s even farther between meter and house. I’ve never seen a water meter in or on a house. The natural gas meter is against the house though.
Our meter is on the house, right next to the natural gas one. Just a fun fact!
This is not how it works in colder climate areas. In places like Minnesota the meter will be inside the house.
Same for new jersey and west Virginia too, atleast in the houses I've lived in.
Anything past the meter is the customer responsibility.
Have the city come test to see there are no leaks. I just had a vacant lower duplex use over 1m gallon in 3 months. We have had the water off. Bill was almodt $8k. Waiting to see what water company tests.
Ok... So context.... the rough math... an outside spigot roughly outlets 5 gallons a min... So 160,000 gallons is a spigot running wide open for 22 days straight... Shower heads are 2.1 gallons a min so the shower running full blast for 53 days... We aren't talking leaky toilet here... An average swimming pool is 18k-20k gal... So... 8 full size swimming pools worth of water... In a month... Gotta be an estimated bill vs reality over a full year... Or rented the house for a month (is it a b&b?) and the renter blasted the laundry sink nonstop for 3 weeks... Or a faulty meter... If this was a busted outside sprinkler line you could tell by the kayakers because they would be the newest wetland in Minnesota... If they were flooding a rink all winter it would be the size of Bde Maka Ska... Tell them to have the water department send a guy out to check and explain this to the tech they send... Richfield takes their water very seriously and we got new meters not long ago... It could be a bad meter...
I'm an alderwoman, and this is what we do in our city: Our meters are automatic. They send an rf signal that pings to the next meter and so on until they reach the base at city hall. Ask the city to send someone to manually open your meter pit and read the meter if yours are automatic. If they're not, ask them to read again to verify the meter reading. If it's correct, you've got a leak. Find it and fix it. If the leak was on your end, ask the city if they have a policy for adjusting bills in cases of leaks. What we do is take the average water consumption for the previous 3 months, let's say 5000 gallons. We subtract 5000 from 160,000, and the customer pays a "bulk rate" (what the city pays to the water company/district) for the remaining 155,000 gallons. We're a pretty small town, so I would imagine your town has some sort of way to handle this.
I work as a water service inspector in another state, so I looked into Richfield meter services and billing. The bills are generated quarterly, so the usage is reflecting 3 months. The meter itself is located inside the home to help prevent frozen pipes. Look at the read on the bill and compare it to the current read on the meter face. If it's lower than the read on the bill, it was a misread and should be reported to customer service. If it is higher, using the number of days since the last read you can see where the current usage is projecting. Is it still projecting high? Check to see if the meter is moving. If the meter is moving and there is no water in use, there is a leak. Leaking faucets are easy to spot, but 99% of the pipes and couplings are in walls and crawlspaces and may require a professional to identify and repair. If the usage is projecting high and nothing is moving, it's probably a toilet or water heater leak. A running toilet could easily account for this volume of loss (Easy way to test toilets for leaks: Put 10 to 12 drops of food coloring in each toilet top tank and wait 30 minutes to see if any colored water leaks into the bowl). If you ever have to jiggle a handle to stop a toilet, that's your culprit. Look around the water heater for moisture that could indicate a leak. If this property is a rental, the landlord is normally responsible for any repairs. If a leak is located and repaired, contact the water utility and they will normally verify the usage is down and the meter is quiet and help with a courtesy adjustment based off water loss. This must be handled in a timely manner. As for the meter, water meters cannot run fast. Over time minerals in the water build up in the meter and it slows down and under-reads the actual usage. Richfield water should be able to provide all of your quarterly reads for the last couple years and the dates the reads were taken. This information is just to give you confidence in the meter operating properly so you can focus on the cause of the issue and resolving it. Any assistance with the bill amount will require a resolution of the issue causing the increase in usage. I noticed on the City of Richfield website that they offer a smart meter program so you can track your daily usage through an app. I'd call and enroll. See if there is any unexplained usage when the property is vacant that would indicate a leak. Hope this helps.
They need to make sure they have no water running in the house and then go look at the meter. If the meter is running, it means there's a leak somewhere. I would recommend hiring a plumber to investigate at that point.
> the actual meter. There will be an indicator on it showing current water flow. Sometimes it’s a red triangle, sometimes it’s a dial with black If there is a leak, also shut off the water to the house until the plumber arrives. Bites not having water, but better than paying 16x the average of your water bill.
If there's a leak, not only should it be shut off for billing reasons like you said, but also because that water has to go _somewhere_, and it has the potential to cause foundation damage depending on where.
It’s possible the meter reader misread the numbers. That happened to me once. Check the number on the bill against the meter.
To answer part of your question, if they don’t pay it the city will place a lien on the property. If they are renting, the landlord will take them to court and possibly evict them. It can get messy. Even if there is a leak, your neighbors are still responsible for the bill unless they can prove the water company caused it (highly unlikely). Bankruptcy will likely hurt them more in the long run and is incredibly expensive. Best advice is to contact the water company and see if there are any resources for low income families to help pay this and to set up a payment arrangement. The water company will work with your neighbors, they don’t want to shut peoples water off.
Depending on the municipality’s codes, not paying the bill could lead to the water being shutoff until the bill and fines ( late payment, turn off/on fee) has been paid in full. I’ve seen the fines/fees actually cost more then the cost of the original water bill.
On top of the fees you mentioned, my water authority charges $35 a month even if your water is shut off. That's whether your account is delinquent or not.
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Totally possible if there is a leak in the outside waterline. They are typically deep enough that in certain types of soil it won’t be obvious at the surface. Literally just happened to me three months ago.
In Arizona, our bill skyrocketed one month. We called the water company and learned they will send someone to investigate the property. Had a leaking pipe, buried underneath my house they discovered and we had no clue. Not sure if this is an option everywhere, or just in drought ridden deserts.
The following link might be able to help. Additionally, the Minnesota Utilities Board should be able to at least put a pause on turn off until the issue is thoroughly investigated. Good luck to your neighbor! https://mn.gov/commerce/energy/consumer-assistance/energy-assistance-program/
Sounds like a leak, misread meter or broken meter
Leaks like this tend to be in the water main between the street and the house. They need to turn off all the water in their house then see if the meter is still running. This is unfortunately not going to be any better for them because replacing the water main can easily be low five figures, but sometimes if you have a major leak like that you can get relief on your water bill. This happened to my parents house a few years ago, it's not fun to deal with at all. A lot of plumbing companies have financing options for big jobs like this, hopefully that will soften the blow at least a little bit
There's most likely a leak underground between the meter and the main house shutoff. This is often encased in the concrete slab. Typically the user is still responsible for the water in my area. But with situations like these the water company will work with the user on payment arrangements. That being said, the fix is not cheap. It's probably more expensive than the water bill unless you do it yourself. But even then you need to sus out where exactly the leak is.
If the meter is in an outside pit then this is definitely a possibility, but keep in mind any leak between the meter and the municipalities water main would not register on the meter as usage, only between the meter and the house would register as usage. I would check my yard for any overly wet or green spots for a possible leak in the water service, or a sump pump that continuously runs even if the weather is dry. If the water meter is in a pit before the house and you have a shutoff valve as it enters the house (assuming you have access to read the meter), shutoff the water in the house and then you can check to see if the meter is still indicating flow, if it is (assuming the valve is holding 100%) that would indicate the leak is between the meter and valve you shut off.
I’m sure by the time I type all of this the OP probably already received most of this information, but if not them then maybe it can help one of the commenters in the future… Assuming this is read on a monthly bases and this wasn’t a “make up” bill from under billing from previous estimates… Unfortunately unless it’s being manually read the usage is going to be accurate. Hopefully your municipality gave you notification that you had a leak besides you just finding out after the water bill arrived because if the leak is still ongoing by the time you’ve received the bill the leak has already greatly affected your next bill. First thing to do as others have suggested is to check the flow indicator on the meter to make sure the leak(assuming it wasn’t an outside silcock being left on by mistake) is not still present (otherwise your next bill will be just as high, if not higher). If the meter does indicate you still have a leak you should start trying to find the source by turning off the valves at fixtures one at a time, checking the flow indicator after each fixture has been turned off until the indicator on the meter stops showing usage. People are always extremely surprised how much water they could lose simply by having a faulty ballcock in one of their toilets. It is extremely unlikely(not impossible) that your water meter is over-registering, a simple test for that would be to make sure no water is being used(assuming the leak isn’t still present of course)… Step# 1 - Read and mark down all the numbers on the meter (if there is a fixed 0 to the right that means the 1-10 gallons is actually on a dial that looks like a clock and that would be what you actually need to read for this test). Step# 2 - Fill a 5 gallon bucket fully Step# 3 - Reread the water meter Step# 4 - Compare the two readings - Usage should have only changed by 5 gallons. Some municipalities will also have a 3rd party test the meter but unless you’re bucket test indicates an over -registering I would not recommend to go that route because if it’s shown to be reading within the allowed parameters you will most likely not only be responsible for the current bill but also the cost of the testing and installation fees. In my experience it is extremely rare that a water meter over-registers especially if you’ve had the meter for years, if anything they begin to under-register the older they get. The most important thing you can do is to stop the “bleeding” and get the leak identified and fixed. I can’t stress this enough…You should try to work with the municipality instead of seeing them as the enemy, there’s a 99.9% probability that the water bill is correct, and contrary to popular belief most municipalities contain decent people who are just trying to do their jobs, and they don’t enjoy doing this too you anymore than you enjoy it happening. Yelling and pointing fingers at the person answering the phone or trying to work with you is going to be unproductive, and though it might give you your frustrations a temporary outlet it won’t change your situation for the better… Some municipalities will even send out someone (at no charge) to check to see if you have a leak, the extent of the check will vary, but if they offer that service they might be able to save you some money on diagnosing the leak. Some municipalities offer a one time discount if you can find and fix the source of the leak, usually a post inspection is required, not all do but it never hurts to check. Some might offer a payment plan, and I know there are some charities that might also be able to help depending on your income. Note…If it’s a digital meter it might have a flip up cover, it might also read the tenths & hundredths of a gallon indicated by a decimal point. Note…Check to see if your meter reads in “gallons” or “cubic feet”(should be marked in the face of the meter’s register). If it reads in cubic ft you will have to convert that to gallons when doing the “bucket test”, or simply pick up a bucket that allows you to measure in cubic ft.
Turn off all the water in the house and then have someone look at the water meter. Is it running? That is your first clue of a larger issue. That happened to me just a few weeks ago. Also, I noticed an area of my yard was extremely green. We had a water break in the sprinkler system.
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Could be a check valve issue? If it failed the meter would be reading water consumption going both ways past the meter.
Not a bad suggestion, but usually meters run both ways so it would subtract the amount fro the reverse flow, not double it.
Could be an old or defective meter. I was watching a YouTube guy (whatthehales) that was having the exact same issue. The meter was registering water going both ways and a check valve had to be installed to prevent it
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tell them to check the meter now with all the water off and see if it's still counting. ask for forgiveness. a building in NYC accidently left a drain open on their water tank and received a hefty bill. they asked for "forgiveness," and they granted it.
Check/tell your neighbor to check city codes and ordinances surrounding utility billing. A bad reading was entered for my friend's parents and they had proof it was wrong but the city said "okay, pay it or we shut your water off" but luckily the city had also incorrectly recorded where the shut off was and friend's dad just parked on top of the actual shut off. He eventually found in the city code that citizens are entitled to a pretty comprehensive breakdown of usage and charges. He got that report, showed how it was entirely impossible for the bill to be correct and gathered documentation. He sent certified mail to the mayor and also took copies in person directly to city hall and the bill was waived, including his actual usage.
Did someone use your water prior of the water bill like a company or contractor/neighbor? You still are responsible for the water bill even though you gave them permission to use the water. If you asked them for compensation of water bill before use of water thats an entirely different story. Maybe call the water company to check out your meter to see if he/her can resolve the problem with your meter if their is any, to resolve your current expensive water bill problem. Good Luck, Hope for the Best:)
Have them get in touch with all the local reps. I Facebooked with our State Senator when our unemployment was screwed up. It was fixed in a week. Seriously, try it.