| Author |
Message |
    
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 15
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:34 am: | 
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List,
Just received my bill for water. First since the radio-receiver meter was installed.
Grand total is $1,309.35 FROM 11/22/04-2/14/05.
301 Units-each unit is 100 cubic feet or 748 Gal.
That means (if my math is correct)I've used 225,148 Gallons!!!!!!
My last bill was for $77.00
Anyone else experience something like this?
After suggesting it was a leak!, they say it may have something to do with the fittings.
Tom |
Bobkat
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7625
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:40 am: |
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During water rationing in the past we were asked to limit ourselves to 50 gallons per day per person. I believe "normal" conception is around 100 gallons per person per day. Your bill works out to be around 600 gallons a day, so unless you have a very big family, an overused lawn sprinkler system, etc. it seems out of line and probably indicative of a leak. |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 905
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 10:58 am: |
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tom,
I got a similar water bill when they put in my new remote-accessible meter. I called them and they sent out a revised bill almost immediately.
My converastion went something like this:
Me:I'd like to talk with someone about my most recent bill.
them: What's the problem?
Me:Look at the balance.
them:And?
Me:I'm in a private residence. Look at my previous bills.
them:hmm.. Oh! I see. We'll get a revised bill out today.
Look at the start and end readings in particular. They might be billing you for all the water that has ever traversed your meter. |
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 16
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 11:02 am: |
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Bobkat,
No leak! Don't have an underground sprinkler system, nor water running to garage and always turn off the water if we're away for more than a day. No indication of water in the house or running off the lawn, down the driveway, anywhere.....
We're talking 225,000 gallons of water! There has got to be a malfunction or some miscalculation.
Anyone else encounter something like this?
Tom |
musicme
Citizen
Username: Musicme
Post Number: 972
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 11:05 am: |
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Tom, when they fitted a new meter on our system it was already loaded with hours!!
We told them about it and they rectified the situation. |
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 17
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 11:08 am: |
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Thanks Woodstock,
They said they even double checked it, but only after I pressed them did they say there may be some sort of connection or reading issue. They even had the amount of my last bill right there.
As I said to BobKat, there's no leak - There would be a swimming pool in my basement if it were otherwise.
I called the town water department too just to see if they had received any similar complaints. When I told them the amount of the bill there was a dead silence, the Village Hall Water Woman was very helpful and then immediately offered to send someone out to read the meter, but I told her that East Orange was coming tomorrow, so not to bother. She also said ic could be something like a 5/8 inch reading from a 1 inch line, which would give wildly innacurate readings.
Sound familar to anyone?
Tom |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 906
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 11:25 am: |
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It's pretty obvious that the reading is not an actual water flow reading over the period in question. Even if the meter was calibrated for a different size pipe, the difference would be less than an order of magnitude (x 10), not 500 times what would be expected.
Do you have your previous water bill? If so, I believe the ending reading from that bill should be equal to the starting reading for your current bill.
Bottom line is, it's obviously an incorrect reading. Let us know how it all turns out. |
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 18
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 11:35 am: |
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Thanks Woodstock and all,
The start reading on the meter was something like 27 units, it's now at 328. I questioned them about cumulative, but they said it was reset when installed (which of course makes me wonder why the first reading was 27?????).
It's gotta be a malfunction. I don't even have an auto-feed into the heater, or anything else remotely similiar to that!
Tom |
Bobkat
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7626
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 12:09 pm: |
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Was the previous $77 bill also for a one year period? This is 6% of the current bill and assuming steady rates and a one year billing cycle you used only 37 gallons a day, which probably means you have an outhouse and your entire family bathes once a week. 
How many people in your family? Usage of around 100 gallons per day per person isn't unusual. |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 907
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 12:43 pm: |
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Bob,
I believe water bills are for a 3 month period, so that would be closer to 150 gallons/day (assuming your calculations are correct. I'm too lazy  ). |
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 19
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 1:57 pm: |
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Well after this I am considering an outhouse.
But to answer the questions - the bills seem to come quarterly, although the installation of the new radio meter may have thrown things off.
The bill was for Nov. 22 until Feb. 14 - roughly 3 months. Roughly 90 days to consume 225,000 gallons! So that's about 2500 gals per day!... talk about long showers!
Tom |
Bobkat
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7627
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 2:42 pm: |
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Ups, sorry I misread the first post and thought it was an annual bill. |
growler
Citizen
Username: Growler
Post Number: 419
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 2:46 pm: |
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And I thought Tom was washing Elephants all day long and providing them with a watering hole. |
dgm
Citizen
Username: Dgm
Post Number: 231
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 3:22 pm: |
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that is about six medium sized swimming pools if my memory is correct |
CageyD
Citizen
Username: Cageyd
Post Number: 229
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 17, 2005 - 6:32 pm: |
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I've had two billing problems with East Orange, The first the bill was better than 2 1/2 times the regular and the company was adamant that it was our fault and we had to pay it. We had no choice. The second time the bill came in 3+ times the normal usage and it included the period of time when we had kitchen rennovations and were minus a bathroom, kitchen sink and dishwasher (we lived on paper plates for months). Only when I explained this did they review my account and found they had misplaced the decimal point on my bill. Many people have had trouble with EO Water. A few years ago there was a segment on a NYC TV station about SO residents and EO water company. Maybe this is unfair, but I think our village administrators have some degree of control over who we get our water from and despite the frequency of complaints like yours, we still are stuck with EO Water |
tom vilardi
Citizen
Username: Tlv350
Post Number: 20
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 1:00 pm: |
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Okay, everything is now resolved, but I learned some things.
If ever they come to your home to fix, recalibrate or otherwise poke around with the meter, make sure you jot down what the reading was.
After the Village dispatched an EO Water tech. this morning to verify everything, he suggested I call EO Water again, but before he left I asked him if the initial settings were computer entered/radio entered into the System, and he indicated they were not - rather they were just written on the work order to be later entered into the system.
Spoke to customer service and suggested that the initial setting of the meter may have been wrong. They transferred me to someone else who took my name and number, compared old useage and promised to call back. About an hour later they called back. They had pulled the work order and confirmed a misapplication of a number on the bill. Because they had stopped the phone reading well before I could get my radio reader installed my estimated useage (27 units) for the period was instead listed as as the initial unit useage, so when the unit was read at 328 units, it came up as 225,000 gallons! The initial reading on the meter was really 299 - so instead I used only 31 units. So my bill goes from $1300 to $8 for the two units not previously billed.... whew!
Case closed. Thank you for all your advice and a shoulder to cry on...
Tom |
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