September bill:

$364 total - $297 is water

August bill:

$297 total - $211 is water

July bill:

$102 total - $34 is water



How in the world?

We don't have a pool. Our watering schedule hasn't changed since March. And I checked the meter for a leak, but with no water running, the number never moved.

You don't have a smart irrigation controller, do you? Ours has a feature that adjusts the water based on the weather and I noticed it watered a lot more in August than July. So maybe check that.

Or possibly you have a leak in your irrigation system that's gotten worse. So you don't notice it when you check the meter because the zone isn't on, but once it starts running it dumps a ton of water.

Just as an FYI, not directly related to the OP's issues, but the cost of water is going to start to skyrocket. Your bill in 10 years will easily outpace your other utility bills.

I have not heard but interesting. What will be the driving factor?

Check your bill for how many gallons were used. There's often a surcharge when you go over a certain amount. make sure you aren't getting the first 10,000 gallons at $x and the second 10,000 gallons at $3x.

hope you don't have a slab leak

Doubtful if the meter isn't running.

Could be estimated usage. SAWS is really terrible about this and hits people with bills for massive usage, like filing an Olympic sized pool in a month, that really aren't physically possible all the time. They basically bill on estimates and then play catchup when they go and physically check.

Going to second looking at your controller. I saw almost the exact same thing here in East Dallas and when I looked at my actual watering report in the controller, all the different watering triggers in the summer had effectively tripled the amount of water that went down. Changed it and my water bill is back under $200 and all my shrubs are still getting plenty of water.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Doubtful if the meter isn't running.

Could be estimated usage. SAWS is really terrible about this and hits people with bills for massive usage, like filing an Olympic sized pool in a month, that really aren't physically possible all the time. They basically bill on estimates and then play catchup when they go and physically check.

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I've always heard this but simply don't understand it. I'm in houston, but I've heard they do the same here. Have even had neighbors post that it's happened to them on nextdoor. But don't we have smart meters? Hell, I can log into an app and see usage by hour.

I had this happen to me a few years ago and was able to call the water company and have them send me a day by day usage estimate that helped me diagnose the problem.

I had 3 days of usage with over 10k gal and when I remembered back to that day, it was when my son and I were playing in the backyard. He was 2 at the time and it turns out that was the day he figured out how to turn the spigot on by himself...so my water was just running out of my hose for 3 days.

If you can get this report, it might help you figure out if you have a leak or just a spike on certain days and find a pattern.

htxag09 said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Doubtful if the meter isn't running.

Could be estimated usage. SAWS is really terrible about this and hits people with bills for massive usage, like filing an Olympic sized pool in a month, that really aren't physically possible all the time. They basically bill on estimates and then play catchup when they go and physically check.

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I've always heard this but simply don't understand it. I'm in houston, but I've heard they do the same here. Have even had neighbors post that it's happened to them on nextdoor. But don't we have smart meters? Hell, I can log into an app and see usage by hour.

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Not everyone has a smart meter for water. I know I don't.

To avoid having to physically check every meter, they estimate your usage based on historical monthly averages for your account and bill you on that. In SAWS case, they verify usage every so often, and, since they're huge dickbags, they bill for the difference in where they thought you were and where you are in one giant bill.

They've even gone so far as to blame meters, telling customers that they must have had an inaccurate old meter that was under billing them and their new bill is what it always should have been. Never mind that they're telling a normal family that they went from 10k-15k gallons per month to something like 50k-60k.

We've lived in this house for 11 years. Our water bills are always higher in the summer, but our sprinkler system does not have a smart anything. It only runs on the days and times we set on it's little outdated control box.

I checked our water meter out by the street and the numbers on our meter aren't even close to the "numbers" they reflect on our monthly bill.

https://billkingblog.com/quote-of-the-week-never-waste-a-good-crisis/

I know he's going to be biased against the folks in office now. That said, I bet if we revisit this in 10 years, the city will have bandaided some low hanging fruit/high visibility issues and will need more money again to fix the problem. No disputing that the infrastructure in Houston is sub par, just call me jaded that the city is going to address it with any serious or effective plan.

Edit: derail over!

Normally I would agree with you. However…………, the EPA and the city have created a master plan. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say the EPA gave the city a to do list. In other words there is a set list of projects, in a set order, that have been agreed upon. It really gives the city little chance to attempt the "low hanging fruit/high visibility" approach without incurring fines and headaches.

That said, there is another reason that water will increase in price across the state and country. Supply and demand. You have perhaps read about subjects like rivers running low, or aquifers drying up. You've probably read about some folk's (farmers being a key player) water being rationed along rivers to insure that key industrial plants near the coast have sufficient water. Or how a city like Dallas (the largest per capita water user in the state) envisions a water shortage by 2050.

Water is getting more scarce. And to a degree our water costs are subsidized. That is ending and we are going to end up paying market cost and a lot of folks are not going to like it. The days of watering acres of St. Augustine will come to an end.

The good thing about putting the difference in one bill is you get into the 3rd and 4th tier pricing!

This is likely what happened. We recently switched over to the "smart" meters, and our whole street got a "true-up" bill from the final read of the old meter. Lots of big bills.

Once you solve the problem, Dallas water utilities will give you a refund for the wasted water. It's weird, but it's true.

Raptor said:

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I checked our water meter out by the street and the numbers on our meter aren't even close to the "numbers" they reflect on our monthly bill.

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There should be before and after readings on the bill, with you being charged for the difference (in 1000s of gallons). If the "after" reading on the bill is higher than your current meter reading, call the water company and tell them that they have an incorrect reading. Tell them what it is today, and tell them you expect them to refund your money and any fees for high usage while also paying you the same late fee and interest for overcharging you that they would normally receive for you not paying your bill.

Raptor said:

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It only runs on the days and times we set on it's little outdated control box.

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Sounds like a misreading. However, PSA - my simple controller like this randomly set one zone to run for 5 hours a couple of summers ago. Took me a couple weeks to figure out what was going on because it was running overnight.

Keep in mind we had a ton of rain / cooler weather early to mid summer this year. Didn't really start getting hot and dry until August. Any idea what your bill normally runs late summer?

Went back and the actually numbers match up. I'm a dumbass.

I was looking at our 2020 bills when I thought they were the current ones.

June 2020 - 25 consumption
July 2020 - 36 consumption
August 2020 - 40 consumption
September 2020 - 34 consumption
October 2020 - 26 consumption
November 2020 - 18 consumption

June 2021 - 13 consumption
July 2021 - 5 consumption
August 2021 - 8 consumption
September 2021 - 43 consumption
October 2021 - 58 consumption

Does 58 mean 5800 gallons?

Probably 58,000.

That's 1933 gallons per day on average.

We don't have a leak (at least the meter doesn't move at all when all the water is turned off) so I guess we just used a crap ton of water last month.

Guess I need to ration out shower time and start washing the clothes in the rain.

Those numbers seem really high (either that or we are more "conservative" with our water use than i thought).

We have a decent size yard + pool and my highest months in the past 12 months are 21.2; 19.1; 19.3.

Average monthly over 12 months is 13

We water 3 cycles per week; top off pool as needed (max 1 time per week); basic laundry / shower / etc.



All the rain this summer was nice as it kept us from having to water some days and did not top off the pool as often.

Raptor said:

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That's 1933 gallons per day on average.

We don't have a leak (at least the meter doesn't move at all when all the water is turned off) so I guess we just used a crap ton of water last month.

Guess I need to ration out shower time and start washing the clothes in the rain.

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Sorry, I only briefly scanned the thread, but have you checked your toilets. I had a slow leak that probably added up to about what you're seeing. Was surprised it used so much. I quit using the chlorox pucks in my tanks as they degrade the stoppers (think the new ones might not degrade?)

bb94 said:

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Raptor said:

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That's 1933 gallons per day on average.

We don't have a leak (at least the meter doesn't move at all when all the water is turned off) so I guess we just used a crap ton of water last month.

Guess I need to ration out shower time and start washing the clothes in the rain.

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Sorry, I only briefly scanned the thread, but have you checked your toilets. I had a slow leak that probably added up to about what you're seeing. Was surprised it used so much. I quit using the chlorox pucks in my tanks as they degrade the stoppers (think the new ones might not degrade?)

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We have three toilets (humble brag) and I have replaced the stoppers in all of them since June. I try and do it twice a year. I'll check them again, but if that's it....then that's a lot of lost water.

Raptor said:

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Went back and the actually numbers match up. I'm a dumbass.

I was looking at our 2020 bills when I thought they were the current ones.

June 2020 - 25 consumption
July 2020 - 36 consumption
August 2020 - 40 consumption
September 2020 - 34 consumption
October 2020 - 26 consumption
November 2020 - 18 consumption

June 2021 - 13 consumption
July 2021 - 5 consumption
August 2021 - 8 consumption
September 2021 - 43 consumption
October 2021 - 58 consumption

Does 58 mean 5800 gallons?

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Move everything to a month earlier, and June July and August (May June July) are suspicious. Unless you've drastically changed how you run your sprinklers or went on vacation for two weeks, it looks like they weren't reading your meter for a few months and have now "caught up." It's only a problem if they charge you extra if you go over a certain amount in a month. Otherwise, you got a free no-interest loan.

But next time you get an unusually low bill, check the meter. If they charge a high-usage free, have them correct the reading. otherwise, just be happy with the free loan.