Water Bill Higher and Higher for 2 months (San Diego, Escondido: house, landlord)

[CNYC]

Originally Posted by davidt1

How many gallons did you use?

I see Tier 1 6 units at $2.53

Tier 2 7 units at $4.43

1 unit is = 748 gallons.

What are the differences between Tier 1 and 2....daytime/night ?

I went from using an average of 149 gallons a day last year to 294.67 current ? Since last Jan August and Sept have been my highest bills to date according to the lever chart.

I also spend half my time in mexico. Maybe I've been staying in SD more days recently. Not sure. Kind of feels like it though.

[happyinca]

Originally Posted by CNYC

I see Tier 1 6 units at $2.53

Tier 2 7 units at $4.43

1 unit is = 748 gallons.

What are the differences between Tier 1 and 2....daytime/night ?

I went from using an average of 149 gallons a day last year to 294.67 current ? Since last Jan August and Sept have been my highest bills to date according to the lever chart.

I also spend half my time in mexico. Maybe I've been staying in SD more days recently. Not sure. Kind of feels like it though.

Tier 1 is the lowest usage and Tier 2 punishes you for using more than Tier 1. Same type of rates you see with SDG&E. For one person 100 - 120 gallons per day should be plenty. I am not sure if you live in the City of San Diego but you can request an water audit at no cost. They come out and check for leaks etc. and check everything out to make sure there are no problems and they provide suggestions. I had an audit several years ago and between the two of us we were only using 100 gallons a day and they told me to water the lawn more! I was too conservation crazy.


300 gallons per day for one person is WAY too much so I think something is wrong, undetected leak?


If you don't live in the City of San Diego contact your water agency there are 26 different agencies in San Diego County: Helix, Otay, City of Poway, City of Escondido etc.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by CNYC

I also purchased a new washing machine lately. Would that do it ?

OP, you seem to be unaware of much of your daily water use, not to mention the sprinkler system usage. Sprinklers on 2-3 times daily? Hard to believe, but if true, you should talk to the LL about it. That's excessive. Brushing teeth + taking two long showers/day? Why so much showering? But how much your clothes washing contributes to the bill obviously depends on how often you do your laundry. We can't answer that question; only you can. Also, don't forget cooking & doing dishes, and toilet usage. Also, summer water rates may be higher than the rest of the year; maybe you were being billed summer rates? It's October now, so that should be over. Your next bill may be lower.

[CNYC]

Great Advice here from people.

I will follow up accordingly.

Many Thanks.

[USDefault]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Brushing teeth + taking two long showers/day? Why so much showering?

Not sure what kind of hygiene you practice -- because that is not a lot of showering. Especially if one is out doing stuff during the day, or going for some exercise/hike/bike ride, perhaps hitting the gym. Lots of us do all of those. Damn straight we're showering extensively after any of those activities, along with other times during the day.

[CNYC]

Originally Posted by USDefault

Not sure what kind of hygiene you practice -- because that is not a lot of showering. Especially if one is out doing stuff during the day, or going for some exercise/hike/bike ride, perhaps hitting the gym. Lots of us do all of those. Damn straight we're showering extensively after any of those activities, along with other times during the day.

+1

Thanks

I can't stress enough how important it is to brush your teeth 3 times a day. Your dentist bills will be so much lower.

[Axxlrod]

Sprinklers should be turned on 2x - 3x per week; not per day.

[kettlepot]

I live in a house, with a yard. My SUMMER usage is 70 - 80 gallons per day, with about half of that for irrigation. 300 gallons per day is a ridiculous amount of water usage for one person.

If a power outage or battery malfunction has caused your automatic sprinklers to reset, they may have defaulted to 10 minutes per use, every day. That alone could double your usage. Axxlrod has it right, your sprinklers should run only 2x-3x per week, and many areas of your landscaping should get by with 5 minutes worth of water.

Two 10-15 minute showers per day is too much, and is an unusual amount of showering. If your lifestyle requires two showers a day, whittle that time down to 5-7 minutes.

Brushing your teeth consumes immaterial amounts of water unless you let the water run during brushing. No one who has grown up in the water short western United States leaves the faucet on during brushing.

There is no difference between winter and summer water rates, or time of day usage. It is strictly based on total volume used during the measurement period. When your usage rises into a higher tier, every subsequent gallon costs more than the first gallons. However, from time to time all the rates go up.

First step, get your irrigation under control. My guess is there was an electrical fault and the timer reset to its default settings.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

OP, you seem to be unaware of much of your daily water use, not to mention the sprinkler system usage. Sprinklers on 2-3 times daily? Hard to believe, but if true, you should talk to the LL about it. That's excessive. Brushing teeth + taking two long showers/day? Why so much showering? But how much your clothes washing contributes to the bill obviously depends on how often you do your laundry. We can't answer that question; only you can. Also, don't forget cooking & doing dishes, and toilet usage. Also, summer water rates may be higher than the rest of the year; maybe you were being billed summer rates? It's October now, so that should be over. Your next bill may be lower.

Uh-oh, you better start using baby wipes instead of showering, and brush your teeth with those disposable things you get on international flights, that should help!

[CNYC]

I called the water company. They definitely think my increase is odd for one person.

I walked around the house looking for leaks and the only thing I found was one toilet that makes "irrigation" type noises aka. running water in the tank area. Otherwise nothing. I've had those toilet noises in previous apartments so I don't think it is an issue....maybe ?

I notified the landlord to get in touch with me. I guess she needs to have her gardener check something ? Otherwise I guess it is a question of how much she wants to water her greenery. I can see that conflicting with what I want.

Thoughts ?

Thanks so much for the very helpful tips.

Cheers