18000 Gallons of Water!!!!

I received the utility bill today… our utility company has found a glitch in their computer program that determines our payment… they have decided that we (the costomers) have not paid enough for our utilities! Well, in the process of revamping their billing system, cost system (to regain the funds not collected over the past several years), and price increases for all of their costomers, tornadoes hit the Valley. We were out of power for 7 days. During that 7 days the meter for our electric and water bills were supposed to be read. The company sent readers to read the meters once the utilities were back on, estimated the usage, and send the bills out.

Today our bill arrived with a $62 water charge and a $450 electric charge. I was flabbergasted with the cost and began looking at the bill.

Water usage: 18000 gals What???!!!! Do we have a leak? We ran out to walk the property and water lines, turned off water to the barn and hydrant (we had a leak there last year), and then went to the meter to see if it was running. Nope! No leaks.

We went back to get the bill and compare the meter to the bill reading. The bill says 18000 gals, our meter says 8000 gals. Hmmm, something is definitely wrong.  We are 8 days past the read/bill date and our reading includes water used for the past 8 days (not included on the bill.)

We decided to check the electric meter to compare those readings…

Electric usage: 4741 kwh Ok, so on hot days when I just absolutely have to have the AC running (not often) my usage may be that high. But what does my meter say? (Remember we are 8 days into the new billing cycle.) Using their previous reading and subtracting today’s reading I have used 3491 kwh. 

OK, so I could give them a little leaway on the electric… but the water is rediculous! I don’t own a swimming pool. I save rain water for my gardens and animals, as well as a spring fed pond for the animals. There is no way I could use 18000 gals of water!

I will be contacting the  utility company Monday to discuss this situation.  And I refuse to pay for an additional 10,000 gals of water I have not used! (I'll let you know how it goes.)

My suggestion, make sure you check your bill and compare the meter numbers when you receive your bill. I am not saying this was done intentionally, but… learn to read your meters!

(Now, I reeeally want to get off the grid!)