Water bill in Gwinnett County (Atlanta, Lawrenceville: 2013, house, school)

[kaykaytheone]

My family recently moved to the Lawrenceville area. I've lived quite a few places, and have never had such an expensive water/sewerage bill. It averages about $125/ month for a two bedroom, three people. Two of us are rarely home (school/work). Is this usual? Could someone please tell me their average and how many are in their household?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by kaykaytheone

My family recently moved to the Lawrenceville area. I've lived quite a few places, and have never had such an expensive water/sewerage bill. It averages about $125/ month for a two bedroom, three people. Two of us are rarely home (school/work). Is this usual? Could someone please tell me their average and how many are in their household?

Ours is averaging around $55/month. Four bedrooms, three adults. Unincorporated Cobb.

Water rates can vary tremendously depending on where you live.

[cwkimbro]

The sewer rate is a bit higher. Rc, does your bill include sewer or just water?

The 2013 rates for Gwinnett are here: http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/static..._Pricelist.pdf I think current prices are a touch lower, though.


We have tiered pricing, so if your house is leaking water or you are a heavy user the price goes up and the bill gets high fast.

Sewer is $7.11/1000 gallons
Water is $4.69/1000 gallons; after 8000 gallons it goes up to $7.03/1000 gallons and up to $9.38/1000 gallons over 12,000 gallons total.

so if you have water and sewer that is $11.80/1000 gallons and $14.14/1000 (over 8000 gallons)

So you are probably using slightly over 10,000 gallons/month

Make sure you don't have any dripping plumbing of running toilets. Also, see if there is any "greener" grass in your yard where the water pipe runs. My parents house had a leak outside between the meter the house + 2 toilets that leaked + low-efficient showerheads... It was a huge water bill until the problems were fixed (way above $125 I'm afraid to say)

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

The sewer rate is a bit higher. Rc, does your bill include sewer or just water?

That would be both. Sewer is about 2/3 of the bill.

It was a little higher this last month ($63.53) for 6,000 gallons of water (8.49 for the first 3,000, 13.08 for the second 3,000) and 32.46 for the sewer plus a 7.00 basic service charge and a 3.50 street light charge.

Cobb county rates are here:

http://water.cobbcountyga.gov/PDFiles/Rates_2012.pdf

RESIDENTIAL WATER
Tier 1 (1,000-3,000) $2.83 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 2 (4,000-15,000) $4.36 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 3 (16,000-29,000) $5.43 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 4 (30,000-49,000) $6.36 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 5 (50,000 and above) $8.25 per 1,000 gallons

NON-RESIDENTIAL WATER
$4.28 per 1,000 gallons

IRRIGATION WATER $8.25 per 1,000 gallons

WASTEWATER $5.41 per 1,000 gallons

[SW30303]

I have lived all of metro Atlanta. The water rates vary tremendously. I believe that is one thing in Atlanta area that costs more than on average than other parts of the country. You could ask the water authority the history at your residence if someone had just lived there right before you. They could come out and see if there is something wrong with the meter or not. I pay around 60-70 a month for 3 people.