I realize I'm probably pissing in the wind here but has anybody dealt with weird billing from the COH water department? I got a call from them last week and essentially they were asking if I had been using more irrigation water than usual. The dazzling urbanite I spoke with was actually really nice and indicated that I had a big bill coming my way. I have definitely used a bit more in the heat but nothing exorbitant. I actually have a rachio controller and it says my sprinklers ran more in the last billing period than this one. Got the bill and it is indeed about triple the last few months.

When I look online the readings make zero sense. If the info they have is correct there were months when I was putting water back into the system. The current reading is correct based on the meter but it kind of seems like I get billed whenever they feel like it. Anybody seen readings like this or can you help me make any sense of it? Thanks in advance!

Confused on why they called you.

They have smart meters but I don't think they read them every month. So they do average billing and catch up on occasion when they do read them.

If you have a small leak at house you can call and get adjusted billing.

They'll come and check the meter to see if you have an outside leak. They did that for us.

Worth checking out if you have an unusual bill.

I own some houses in Houston and for better or worse I'm good at pattern recognition. Here's my take. Those guys that get paid to read your meters each month…don't actually do that monthly. They just kind of make up numbers and then true it up every year or so. That's how we get situations like the one you're describing in the COH. Isn't that special?

I have no idea what prompted the call. It was from the water phone number (713-371-1400) and the gal was basically asking if I had been using more water than usual. I don't have any leaks, meter wheel is still unless I have the sprinklers on, it just feels like they guess at the bill most of the time and do one big bill to catch up when they actually come out to read it. My may bill had the "ESTIMATED" note on it but the rest are allegedly accurate. I just don't know whether it is worth complaining or if they are going to send somebody out to look at the meter in the ground and say "looks good".

Regarding an adjustment for a leak, I was required to upload documentation showing the baseline and deviation caused by the leak, which was easy to identify given the size of the leak. Note this documentation consisted of screenshots of their own data from the COH website Then you must wait 6-8 weeks for the denial. When you call to discuss, you get incomprehensible gibberish. City government at its best. Maybe others have had better luck….

Didn't get a call but my bill this month was double what it's been lately and the readings look like they check every other month

Maybe I did get a call but I don't answer unknown callers.

That's awesome

I've had two incidents with them.

The first was their fault. They misbilled me close to $2000. I spent a couple hours on the phone with them over the course of a few months and had to send in some paperwork. Eventually they cut the bill to something like $600.

The second was my fault. I had something go wrong with a toilet in my house where it ended up running for a month straight. I called on the phone a couple times and sent in a high bill relief request or whatever it is called and I can't remember how much they cut the bill by, but it was at least 50%.

Randomly got a $1500 bill once. They couldn't explain it and it just disappeared.

They went to flat billing a few years back and our bills went up considerably. After a few months of the city apparently just making things up, they finally lowered our bill. I guarantee you they're just guessing based on square footage.

What I suspect is the most likely scenario is the transmitter (ERT) on your meter is not working properly, so they have to physically read your meter, which is not happening regularly. This results in "catch-up" bills after your billing is recorded as 0 gallons of usage.

You can call them and ask for the usage to be balance across the period for which this erratic meter reading has been occurring. For a normal residential meter, this will certainly have an effect on how much you pay, because anything below 6,000 is billed at a lower rate. For an irrigation meter it will not matter.

It has been... a long time.
One day, I'll move and I'm sure then I'll have to negotiate a bill or pay it or something, but in the meantime, they can keep wasting their stamps.