Last month our water bill was extremely high. The water consumption was 15 kgals with a water charge of $39.97 and wastewater charge of $80.10. The meter reading went from 1876 to 1891 for the period 11/13/2008 to 12/11/2008.
We called Gainesville Regional Utilities and they said we must have a leak. We could not find a leak. I uncovered the meter box and it was filled with inches of dirt and a nest of ants. This was today 1/2/2009.
After digging out the dirt I could see the meter read 1884 (took a photo) and there was no movement of the meter, meaning no leak. This is three quarters through the next month, so the meter probably read around 1881 on 12/11/2008, which would have been 5 kgals.
GRU tripled our charge without reading the meter.
Since we had thought there was a leak and that we did not think there was a leak in the house, whe had asked GRU to send someone out. They did. He looked at the meter and everything was fine. I talked to him and asked him if this sort of thing happened a lot.
He said all over town, all the time. He said the meter readers often read the wrong meter. He told me a story.
He also said they use screw drivers to clear the dirt off the meter and scratch the meters. After a while, the meters are so scratched they cannot be read. His department is engineering and they have to go out and replace the meter coverings because of this.
He said he has reported these issues to his supervisors, but they tell him not to bother.
GRU told us they would fix our bill next month to account for the wrong amount.
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