@gaywolverine: If a meter reader had to visit every customer each and every month, rest assured that your rates would go up. Estimations are based on past usage and expected future demand. I get nothing but estimates at my place, and each month it details the previous and they're almost always right on. I think the biggest differential I saw was when I went on vacation for almost the entire month. Anything I paid was credited for next month.
This is a cost-eefective way of keeping rates low. Deal with it or provide your own utilities.

@EmeryNuggletron: I do not know what city you live in, but here in New York City, we get charged a minimum for our water. Does your locale do the same thing? And if so, what is their daily minimum? And, as I mention below, is there any sort of sewer charge as well that gets added to the calculation?

So, even if I went and did what you did, I'd save nothing. And I'm just one person. Right now (until July 1, 2009) we pay $2.31 per Hundred Cubic Feet of water (about 748 gallons). And unless there's a change, we are getting soaked on July 1, 2009 with a 12.9% increase, so the rate goes to $2.61. For my last bill dated May 8, and covering 90 days, the minimum charge of $.31 per day is calculated. But don't forget, we also pay 159% of the water charge as a sewer charge. So my actual daily charge was $.80 per day, or about $72 for the three months.

It might just be because I live in California, but 140,000 gallons of potable water for $1200 just doesn't seem bad. That's a little over 8 cents for 10 gallons.

We have similar problems with the electric bill. And it isn't just us. People who live on our block report similar problems.

I have come to the conclusion that it really isn't how much water, electricity, gas, etc., that you use. It's what the utility companies decide they want to charge you. Consumers have no say in the matter. If the utility company finds itself short one month, they just bill their customers more and say they used more water, electricity, gas, or whatever.

And there's not a doggone thing consumers can do about it. In the old days, people had wells for water, used oil lamps for lighting, and burned wood for heat.

Maybe they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, we're not "allowed" to do these things today. Can you imagine trying to dig a well on your property? Water company won't let you do it. We tried. Because we're within city limits, we can't. We are MANDATED to use city water.

Sometimes I think if everyone just worked together and demanded accountability, things would change. Trying to protest by not using water, electricity or gas doesn't work because, as I said, they'll charge you what they want, anyway.

As for this woman, I empathize with her. I, too, believe in fairness and justice, so I hope she wins her case. I would suggest having not just one, but two plumbing companies check her lines.

And as for those of you who say this is just a catch up bill after YEARS of estimating her bill? HOGWASH. NO UTILITY COMPANY IS GOING TO ESTIMATE A BILL FOR YEARS AND YEARS. In fact, most utility companies do not estimate more than 2 months in a row, unless there is something blocking access, and if it's the water company, those mains are usually on the public sidewalks, yards, etc.

Nope, I think this is probably a case of the water company having a leak somewhere and charging customers to make up for THEIR loss.

Good luck, lady! I hope you are victorious in your court case.

That's like the retards who you call up about something like this that obviously is wrong and their standard defense is "the computer doesn't make mistakes". WHATEVER. I have caught BANKS making mistakes, etc. etc.

The end result in every story like this is the same. A ridiculously stupid bureacracy that won't listen to the consumer, and is hell bent on punishing them, without listening to reason or admitting liability and fixing it. Almost without exception, once pushed hard and high up the ladder enough, you get a sheepish apology from an out-of-touch executive who makes it go away.

The leak is obviously somewhere underground, at a key juncture in the neighborhood, or something like that, or some meter needs to be rebooted or new battery or solar cell put in, and all the leaked water pumped away before the sinkhole swallows a house, a kid or a car.

I think this is part of Obamas plan to prop up the socialist system. Every senior that gets social security will also get a huge bill from a quasi-government entity. The bill can't be disputed. The quasi-government entity will essentially place a lein on all future social security income and the government can fund social security indefinately by simply mailing itself checks!

@Hawk07: Yes - she has probably been planning this for years - but it is much more sinister than that. I doubt she has the capabilities to pull this off on her own. If you look in her basement there is a pipe that goes straight through the center of the earth to China!

Ohh... do you think they wouldn't do it again to someone else if they had to cough up $15 for my apartment? And they haven't done it again to me... I would have mentioned that, obviously.

It is time you realize that you have West Coast readers, and over here, WASHINGTON IS A STATE. When you refer to "Washington" in the opening of an article, and the "DC" later, it's pretty damn annoying.

Just to be safe, here's a picture:

$5 was our regular cost so not enough money for us to spend 3 hours on the phone recovering. Regardless, it was obnoxious.

Good job, now the gas company thinks it's perfectly OK to overbill you because you'll shut up and pay the bill!

FTR, we fought our bill after we found out our neighbors had reported the problem to the city (twice), they'd come out, looked at the problem, and walked away rather than cutting our water. (Yes, we should have turned it off before evacuating, but some things slip through in the chaos.) The city waived our bill (and probably a bunch of others, since we weren't the only ones not living here when they randomly started turning water back on).

Any non-trivial water flow requires a fair amount of noise to mask, 3.whatever gallons a minute would require never straying more than three feet from the air conditioner. I would notice much smaller flows because my new water meter squeaks, but 3 gpm would be noticed in the basement as the water flow is loudest down there, and nothing down there generates enough noise to mask that kind of flow.

The utility has a credibility problem in my eyes.

I don't think that she actually did use this much water...but it is possible. 139,876 gallons in 1 month comes out to about 3.24 gallons per minute...you'd be using at least a couple of gallons per minute if you were to constantly run your faucet and probably more for your shower/bathtub. Or anywhere from 2-5 gallons per flush of the toilet....if someone were sitting and flushing the toilet once every minute or two for an entire month.

@rinse: CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL

@gaywolverine: I don't get what you're saying, and I don't think you read Rock's post very well. He never said that if the estimate is high you don't pay more; of course you do. You're paying for what you didn't actually use. What he's saying is that once they come to do the actual reading in the springtime (since, as stated, in some places they don't read the meters in the winter due to inaccessibility) the reading then is accurate, and if you DID pay more on your estimated bill, you will receive back the difference between what you paid for and what you actually use.

Some older meters would 'spin' when there were air bubbles in the line.

The rep might have read the number wrong, or had her address on his PDA when he read the meter at some business. The reading on "her" meter might have more digits than her actual meter.

Some water companies, especially older or backwards ones, have unlimited billing schemes. You pay per number of bedrooms or sq ft of your house. Commercial customers get the meter. That unlimited scheme might get upgraded to a master meter, then split that bill by bedrooms, so if there was a massive leak underground, or at one person's house, everyone else would pay for it.

My house used to have unlimited water until the early 1990s, when the private water company was taken over and hooked up to the municipal groundwater water system after there was too much protesting over the private water company's "well house next to football field of abandoned 55 gallon drums of dry cleaning perc". When the municipal water company took over, everyone in my subdivision got meters, either in their basement, or in the sidewalk for an additional fee.

Maybe she started growing pot.

Mine is checked every other month. On the bill it clearly says estimate or actual.

Give me a slope, or an angle measurement and one side length of the triangle.

I always thought that looking at a customer's bill, seeing a ridiculous and unrealistic amount of usage and then insisting on charging for it was a cell-company thing.

So, either granny is lying about leaving the garden hose on for a week...or the bill is a mistake.

They should all be shot in the hiney with a water cannon!

*ducks Justice Department goons*

Or just one 12.5 foot deep one. :D

Also, that's kind of the point... it would be neigh impossible for her to use that much water, especially without someone noticing -before- the bill came due.

@Bruce:
they needed more water after the Shatnerquake caused a leak in their tank

@TheStateOnDVD!_GitEmSteveDave:
a roll a month? you are constipated my friend, may I suggest ading some fiber to your diet?

hell with kids around and a full house we go through one a day sometimes...

@Coles_Law:

...if you have a bathtub that can put out 3.25 gallons per minute perpetually, that would be one big bathtub.

And if it was a main, it wouldn't be on her bill...the meter is at the house, which has a feeder pipe from the main...

Anyway, I reckon it could depend on various circumstances, but I'd be hard-pressed to believe that 130,000 gallons of water leaking someplace over the course of a month wouldn't do something magnificently catastrophic to her house...

99 years old... Does she have a yard? Maybe she left a hose on for a week and didn't realize it... if it's a hilly area, it could drain somewhere and her neighbors won't notice. A senile relative of mine does that all the time... and the first time he did it, the water company thought the meter was busted.

I bet if you watch her place long enough, you'll see some jittery people knocking on her door, trying to score some herring or a bit of cod.

Winner.

@SlappySquirrel: Well, 140,000 gallons is about a 50' x 70' swimming pool, which would be HUGE for a home pool. Though admittedly, it's only 1/5 the size of an olympic-sized swimming pool.

if she eventually turned off the leaking faucet/hose/shower there would be nothing for a plumber to find.

you don't need a plumber to determine that no one person will use that much water, but in an old house a sink can be doing 3.25 gpm easily, as can a shower or hose.

I think this is a problem. Luckily, WASA has a "report a problem" email form. While "absurd utility management" is not an option for problem type, "other problem" is:

http://www.dcwasa.com/report_problem/default.cfm/

This is the case of a bunch of clerks being paid starvation wages and not caring a crap about their jobs.

@Aladdyn: My water meter is by the curb at the easement, so it's possible. I'll grant you the water pressure, though. The damage would have to be very specific to allow any water at all into the house. I just threw out a possibility.

@YouDidWhatNow?: It's not that much, actually-your bathtub can easily output that much. The damage would take months, but it would be catastrophic.

also, a faucet, hose, or shower left partially open could run at 3.25gpm easily. if the water authority confirmed that the reading is correct my money would be that they are right.

if there is a break in the water line after the meter the city will probably remove the sewage part of the bill which would cut the amount drastically.

it's pretty easy to confirm a leak and confirm that a reading is right, so unless more facts surface my money is on the city

This must be a computer error of some sort. We had a water main break here a couple months ago that turned River Road into an actual river (necessitating helicopter rescues of drivers) and another last summer that had us all boiling our water for a week, so the piping infrastructure is not in good shape, but a leak that large would be noticeable and affect more than just her. I have no idea how one person without a swimming pool uses 140,000 gallons of water.

Some people not from DC and maybe the west coast would probably believe it (that it's GOP).

I don't think bad water bills necessarily correlate with politics. But, DC for being our nation's capital, is one of the worst places to live and send your kids to public school. Just look at the voting patterns of the citizens.

I don't feel like wasting my time explaining to you how estimated readings work, but rest assured that you're not paying for any more water or electricity than you actually use. When they do an actual reading they know exactly how much you've used since the last actual reading.

@Coles_Law:

...if you were leaking 3.25 gallons per minute, in a couple hours your house would either drop into a sinkhole or lift and float away.

There is not the slightest chance that there's a leak of such magnitude anywhere near or in her house - the results would have been catastrophic.

@I Love New Jersey: Too many Republicans running that city. They hate the elderly.

@darkrose: @Do not taunt Happy Fun King Psyz: I think incompetence is more likely the cause rather than corruption.

I would be shocked, SHOCKED I say, if there were any corruption in D.C.

@Do not taunt Happy Fun King Psyz:
damn you lack of edit feature, damn you to hell

@darkrose:
I'm fairly certain there's more than one or two corrupt depertments in D.C.

In all seriousness, how does someone at the Water authority review that statement and stand behind that?

Is she running an underground waterpark?
Maybe a blackmarket aquarium? Hoarding for the coming apocolypse?

THAT LADY IS THIRSTY

Wait, you guys don't use 3+ gallons of water every minute of every day?

Either the meter reader can't read, the meter is broken, DC-WASU's records are wrong, or there is a leak.

What is the flow-rate into the house? Is a flow-rate of 3.2379 gal/min (194.2722 gal/hr) even possible?

Is there a chance of a line break or other underground leak? That usage works out to a continuous 3.25 gallons per minute-certainly possible if there's a decent break somewhere. More likely than not a meter was just misread, but the line break possibility should be investigated. if it is the case and goes unchecked, the house's foundation could shift and cause serious damage to the building.

Or, if the meter had been estimated for years, this is the catch-up bill. Most utilities work out payment arrangements in such circumstances.

Lastly, it could be a simple error by a meter reader, data clerk, or computer.

Granny is selling water on the black market, check craigs list.