Outrageous water bill? (Alexandria, Dale City, Winchester: low income, sales, rent)

[seiketsu]

Virginia American Water has charged me about $150 for each of the past two quarters ($300 for six months). When I called to inquire about the billing breakdown, they told me during that time period I used only about $20 worth of water, but they charge a minimum monthly fee of about $30 for simply having service, plus additional sewage fees and Alexandria city taxes. Basically, for each unit of water that comes out of the faucet, it's 15x its price in fees and taxes. I thought this was absurd, but I've never lived in a place where water was billed separately (it's always been included in either my rent or in condo fees).

My sister also lives in Alexandria and her quarterly bill averages $50. She has more people using a larger home, as well.

I asked the water company to send me a spreadsheet so I can better understand my bill, but should I expect to pay $50 a month for WATER for the duration of my time here? That's more than any other utility, including electricity IN THE SUMMER.

[tgbwc]

$50 seems really low. $150 seems high to me if it is just you and you are in a condo not watering the yard and such. There are 3 of us in a sfh and we pay about $100 a quarter in Fairfax County.

[ChristineVA]

I have Virginia American Water in Prince William County. My bill runs between $160 and $180 per quarter. We have 4 people in our home (two teens that take long showers and one mom who likes her soaking tub!!). We also water the grass. My neighbor down the street, with a 3-person household is obviously much more frugal and pays about $125 per quarter.

Our sewage is bill separately because we are in the Dale City sewage system area. Talk about a RIP OFF....

Anyway, if you are paying sewage with your water (as I used to do in Maryland), that doesn't sound all that bad. It's kind of hard to compare water bills in this area as every area does it different (some contain sewage, some don't, etc).

[weezycom]

City of Alexandria rates are horrible. My office is in Old Town in a TH and our water bills are $150/month -- no outside watering, and no bathing/showering.

Does your sister live in the City limits or is she in Fairfax Co. that has an Alexandria mailing address?

[seiketsu]

You know what, she is in Fairfax County Alexandria. That makes more sense.

This still makes me sad. It seems like in Alexandria, there's no benefit to being frugal with water.

[perries]

You should absolutely complain to your representatives. A monthly minimum service fee of $30? How much do those city taxes come to? Nothing will change until the residents raise a ruckus. Or rather, unless the residents raise a ruckus the only change will be increased fees and taxes.

[CAVA1990]

Ever look at your phone bill? It's almost all taxes and user fees. This is how the government raises money without making it look like they're taxing you. A lot of the fees are used to subsidize services to other folks. For example the fees on your phone bill are used to provide service in rural areas that couldn't pay to support it on their own. It let's us think we're not a socialist society but in many ways we are. A more honest and economically effective approach would be to get rid of all the fees, raise income or sales taxes, and give direct cash subsidies to the less fortunate.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by seiketsu

When I called to inquire about the billing breakdown, they told me during that time period I used only about $20 worth of water, but they charge a minimum monthly fee of about $30 for simply having service, plus additional sewage fees and Alexandria city taxes . . .

One of the small towns in south Jersey where I used to live did the same thing. The water bill was kind of "bracketed" meaning that there was a minimum usage, let's say x gallons to x gallons and so forth. So, for example, if Bracket A covered 100 gallons to 1000 gallons for one set fee/price ($), then I'd pay that fee whether I used 30, 500, or 999 gallons (anything that did not exceed 1000 gallons). This town, BTW, was under city/municipal water versus the county.

You're right about not getting a fair deal for trying to conserve water. And CAVA1990 was right on the button regarding taxes and services: there were a lot of city services (i.e., food banks, homeless shelters, childrens' programs, low income housing, etc.) available in this town I mentioned in NJ.

As far as VA, my townhouse in Sterling, VA average $90 per quarter = $30/month. We were pretty conservative with water, not even watering the lawn (since it was small, mulched and landscaped). I am in Winchester now and recently received a water bill and it was pretty low IMO. I'll find out what it is and post back.

[Flamingo13]

We're City of Alexandria, two people, I just paid the bill yesterday and it was $83 for the quarter. We usually are $80-$100 (sometimes in summer drought $110 or so).

[car54]

If I get a higher than normal water bill, the first I think of is....LEAK.

A few summers ago, during a drought, I noticed an area of lush vegetation in an otherwise parched yard. The ground was moist whereas the rest of the yard was like rock. So I fired up my trusty backhoe and started diggin'...sure enough, my water line from the street had failed....and the next water bill was $200+, rather than the normal $100 or so.

Remember, if a leak is on the house side of the meter....you're gonna pay, for the wasted water AND to fix the leak.

I'm just glad for the drought that year....I might have gone crazy for years trying to figure why the water bill was so high!