Water Bill

[Mochashello]

How much is everyone's average water bill per month? More accurately, your water, sewage, and garbage removal?

We went from watering our lawn every day for 10 minutes per sprinkler (6 sprinklers), to every other day for an average of 5 minutes per sprinkler, and our bill this month is higher than last month! I didn't keep the paper bill from last month and the city website doesn't show me my bills online for some reason- only the monetary transactions. I am so frustrated! Our bill is $198! That's for just one month! Is this ridiculous or average? It's about $50 more than I had budgeted BEFORE cutting our usage so much. What's up with that??

Grrr.

[jade73]

Our bill is for every three months this time around for 3 months is $297.00 I wish it was lower.I can feel yor pain $198.00 for one month Out of this world.I wish you luck on bringing it down.

[katybug]

We are billed every other month for Garbage/Recycling $40.20 and our water and sewer average to $35 a month. Mind you, that is two adults and two VERY thirsty kitties. We live in a very wet area and don't even need to think about watering from Oct-Late June. We don't water in the *off* season either, we live in an older neighborhood and everyone lets their grass hibernate during the hot months .

NOW, over a year ago we had someone else living with us and we were pretending we had a garden (may it rest in peace) we will do better on the next one! It only added $5 to $10 more a month. Double check all your faucets inside and out and your toilets. We had two leaky faucets and two running toilets over the course of several months and THOSE bills were $150!!!!!!!!!! Be sure there isn't a *leak* somewhere.

Again, we live in a wet area, so our water just might be cheaper, period.

[StartingOver]

We pay $27.00/month for garbage and $35.00/mo for water.

[tmffv]

We live in a very dry area and have sprinkler's and drip lines set up for the grass, bushes and trees. I only have last month's bill to go off of but it was pretty typical for a high water usuage month:

Electric Meter: $112.56 (12% c.s chargesand fees/taxes)
Water Meter: $38.76 (25% c.s. charges and fees )
Waste Water: $11.34
Storm Water: $4.19
Solid Waste: $11.00

I believe the last 3 bills always stay the same I believe, only the first two change.

Sorry you're utility bills was so much more than you had expected. How frustrating to be watching your usuage and not see the benefits of a smaller bill.

[SandNOceanGirl]

Our water/sewer bill is around $35.00 a month and trash bill is $90.00 every 3 months. Good luck on getting your bill lower!!

[jdr250]

Our water bill is about 65.00 every three months, our sewage is 45/month and garbage is 36/every three months.
I feel your pain. I would check for leaks, even when we filled our pool this summer like 30,000 gallons our water bill was only like 30.00 more so going up 50 with lower usage sounds fishy.

[McD]

Was it a longer billing cycle?

Our water/sewer/trash is generally about 30$ for the three of us, doing at least 1 load of laundry every day.

[beks37]

My water/sewer bill is normally $20.00 per month. I don't have a sprinkler system though. My garbage bill is $60.00 every 3 months.

[Cricketlegs]

My bill was $49 for water, sewage and trash/recycling pickup.

I average about $50 a month.

[MommaStumpf]

I would contact your company and have them double check your usage, and then I would look for leaks somewhere. (Also since this is not my yard and I don't know how you feel about your yard I would ask if it was absolutely a half to thing to even water the lawn in the first place.)

[Mochashello]

As far as the lawn, yes it is necessary. It is 95 degrees here today. We just paid to put this sod in a couple months ago after years of having dirt and patches of old brown grass. Even reducing the watering down to every other day has taken a toll on it, it is getting more brown patches.

I got our usage from the water company, and this month we barely used less on average than last month which makes no sense to me. We went from an average of 1.935 per day to an average of 1.909 per day. I am thinking some sort of leak somewhere too, but I don't know where it would be. It must be outside somewhere. I sent an email to them asking they offer any sort of audit or something to check for leaks in our outside pipes or sprinklers and I'm waiting to hear back from them. Even if they do have something like that, it's probably more than I could afford.

We've also been cutting down on our shower lengths (only a little though), and I try to use less water when doing dishes (I don't leave it running the whole time). I just don't get it.

[Mochashello]

The water company replied to my email and told me to lift the meter lid and see if it was spinning (making sure all faucets were off and no water was running, etc) and then if it was spinning it would indicate a leak and I'd need to call a plumber.

However, when I went outside to do this, I could not lift the meter lid. It is heavy concrete with just a small hole in it which I am sure the readers have a handy tool that fits inside to lift the lid, but I don't have that. Does anyone know how to get the lid off?

[Gardengal18]

Our Water/Sewer and Garbage is separate. Water/Sewer just went upto $158 (from $93, yeah they have some nerve) a quarter and the Garbage bill was $75 a quarter.

[janelane]

You guys are probably going to be shocked when I say this seeing your totals. Water is the last bastion of reasonable pricing around here (it is supposed to go up soon, I think.) We've paid an average 15$ per quarter the last two years. 5 bucks a month, not bad at all. However, there is something in the water here that gives us all indigestion, including the cats, so we do get drinking water delivered for 40/month and I include that in the grocery budget. Trash and recycling is included in our taxes so it feels free at least.