White House Utility District Rip Off? (Knoxville, Hendersonville: apartment, how much, new house)

[Decepticon]

We have lived in MI, IN and Knoxville TN and consistantly had a water bill of $40 a month for a family of four. We moved into the White House District 3 months ago and have had monthly bills of $150-$200! I don't understand how they can get away with that. We don't even water our lawn here at all like we did in the other states. My husband says it is the sewer that is so expensive and that they prorate it so that you will be paying it in the winter too? We are very confused. Can someone help us understand how it works and if this is an average price to be paying for water?

Ps. We also paid to have them come test our meter...they said it was working normal.

[MiddleTNresident]

My water bills since December in a new house have been consistently around $20/month and my sewer bills are around $40/month ($15 of which is the trash fee) with White House Utility District and City of White House Sewer Dept. We also never water outdoors or wash cars at home. I don't know my monthly water usage in gallons offhand. The sewer charge is calculated based upon the water usage in gallons.

What you are paying is way too high for a household that does not water outdoors. Unless your water usage is way higher than my own (see below), you may have to consider an undetected leak, or toilets that run/refill on their own (every apartment I ever lived in had this issue) or some other problem. I even had a neighbor once-upon-a-time in Hendersonville that stole water from me by hooking up a hose to my outside faucets (I wish I were joking about this, but I'm not).

Here's our water consumption habit:

We have water-saving toilets that only use 1 gallon per flush (I am so glad to have them!) I run about 2 or 3 full loads of laundry per week (occasionally more), use the dishwasher once a day, and the shower gets used twice a day. Plus we have an aquarium that requires 50+ gallons for water changes monthly.

I hope you are able to resolve this. I would scream if I had to pay that much.

[rossc]

Turn everything off and go look at the water meter. If it's still moving, you have an underground leak. That happened to us in DE. Sometimes the water just finds a channel underground, like an underground spring, and never surfaces. I think the water company has a gizmo that can find an underground leak.

[Decepticon]

We tested it ourselves and the water meter stopped. We should probably try it again though because we cant figure out how we used 14,000 gallons in one month. We looked up how much the shower heads and toilet used. Same with the dishwasher and washer. It is a newer house and the water company told my husband the family of four we bought the house from, on average was paying close to $500 a month. And the woman there acted like it was no big deal. We being new to the Nashville area we can't believe people pay that!!

[rossc]

At $500/month you could pay for a well and private septic system in a year. That's just crazy. We're on the outskirts of metro Nashville and pay about $40/month for sewer and water. Are you consistently paying this much or is this your first bill? If it's your first bill, make sure a neighbor didn't "borrow" your outside faucet to fill up a swimming pool. That happens now and then.

[Decepticon]

We have received 3 bills the first one was for 10 days and was $214 (we called immediately for them to come out. It said we used 19,826 gallons in 5 days. (It was only 5 days because we just closed on the house). The previous owners stayed at our utilities expense for a couple days but we could not justify the bill. The water company came out and sent us a letter saying the meter was fine. That is when they told us how much the previous owner used (most likely to water the lawn). But then 2 more bills came and one was $176 and then the most recent $156 bill, which I did EVERYTHING I could to conserve water. So I came on here in hopes of others having the same issue.

[tnp]

I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not, because I live in a different town, but this past month my water bill was the highest it's ever been. I was shocked, because I don't water my yard, wash cars, or anything else, and I live by myself. I called the water company, sure that there must have been a mistake. It wasn't a mistake. They increased their base rates by about 68%! So I can expect to pay this much every month, and that's just water. We don't get charged for sewer, because we're all on septic out here. I've been in TN for over 25 years and have never had such a high water rate increase in one year before! You might want to see if your water company has had a similar increase.

[MiddleTNresident]

I can't believe the water dept. didn't see something seriously wrong with 19,826 gallons in 5 days from one household, even if the previous owner was responsible for some of that usage. That doesn't sound right at all. I don't think we've had rate increases. If we did, my own bills would have changed (up) since my usage has been fairly unchanged. Regardless what the water dept says, it sounds like a faulty meter or a faulty meter reader. Or a leak or some other factor that is making the meter count more water usage than what you are using. It doesn't help that the previous owner didn't see anything wrong with $500 water bills (that's insane!) because now it's set a history for usage at that address that the previous owner accepted. You might need to hire a professional to help you -- or just keep after the water dept. because it doesn't sound like they really investigated anything. Best wishes, and and I hope you get a good resolution.

[middletnjoe]

The average person uses 1500-2000 gallons per month. Unless you have five or more children something is definitely amiss.

[bran_smith]

not that is helpful..but my husband and myself bill is usuallly aboty 30 dollars amonth..Try to cut down on use if you can..such as wait til your dish washer is soo full that dishes are almost falling out..(just where no space can be seen)run it.....limit your shower time..say you do 30 mins take a 15 min shower....
make sure your kids arent playing in the water and leaving it running...(noticed this when my sister in law kids was here) they would leave the water on and leave it on...
but from their site this is how u check for leaks

• <LI class=MsoNormal style="COLOR: #335099; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3">Turn off all faucets inside and out. <LI class=MsoNormal style="COLOR: #335099; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3">Go to your meter and write down the reading under the plastic cap (including the permanent zero on the end) <LI class=MsoNormal style="COLOR: #335099; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3">Wait 4 – 6 hours using absolutely no water. <LI class=MsoNormal style="COLOR: #335099; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3">Compare reading on meter to the reading written down earlier. <LI class=MsoNormal style="COLOR: #335099; tab-stops: list .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3">If your reading is different, you may want to contact a certified plumber, or repair it yourself, if possible.
• If the reading is exactly the same there is no leak.