Water bill B.S.

[Nebraska_SHO]

Alright maybe I am in the wrong here, but I would like to hear your guys opinions.

My wife called me at work today all frantic. A guy stopped by our house today, and asked if we had been getting a water bill. We have not been, but our last two homes have had it integrated into the electric bill. Bob, the water guy, said that according to there records we have not paid a bill since January of 2012. Which I would guess is true since it is apparently not integrated into our electric bill, but we have never gotten a water bill separately. They never once contacted us after we moved in. Bob made a huge deal and told my wife that we would be getting a huge bill when I go and set up our account tomorrow.

We moved into this place in March of 2012, after the address was changed to our name we got letters from the electric company, trash man, gas man etc... all stating that we would need to come into there office and change the name on the accounts over to ours.

I talked to my neighbor when I got home and asked him. He told me that they have a meter reader come in once a month. Which is what they did in the house I grew up in.

So I guess my question is how would you handle this? I really don't see how we were at fault here, every other municipality contacted us once our address was changed. The town we live in is technically a suburb, but is not classified as its own town. We contacted the water company in the larger "town", and they said that all water bills are integrated into the electric bills. I get it that I assumed wrong, but still how the hell does a water company go a whole year before they question/stop by/send a notice that they have not received anything!

Thanks for your time...:beer:

 

[Torch10th]

It's the homeowner's responsibility to make sure all their accounts are in good order. When you signed loan paperwork and setup any HOA you should have gone over what was and was not covered by things like your escrow or HOA payments. Failure to read these documents or completely understand what is and is not included is not the water company's fault, or even their problem.

Unfortunately, there's probably not a bunch you can do about it and be fortunate that the water company didn't just shut off your water.

If I was in this situation, I'd get there, be as nice as possible and see if they can work with you on a payment plan to get you current.

 

[KingBlack]

its happened to me before. go to the util company and ask to speak to an accounts manager. be nice. explain the story, and let them know that you came because you wanted to clear up this MISUNDERSTANDING asap. be calm. dont point fingers, say that you understand mistakes happen. see what happens after that.

 

[pho_phizzat]

All sounds fishy to me. What part of Nebraska are you in?

 

[Nebraska_SHO]

Pho_Phizzat, Norfolk.

KingBlack, Bob the water guy tried passing blame onto our realtor....blaming him for not telling us. Like I have said if this was the electric company they would have contacted us within a month or two of no payment.

Torch10, I would have preferred for them to turn the water off the first month if they had not gotten a bill. That was an electric company would do....maybe 2 months, they would at least contact you...this never happened with the water company. Nobody has even been over to read the meter?

 

[Torch10th]

Pho_Phizzat, Norfolk.

KingBlack, Bob the water guy tried passing blame onto our realtor....blaming him for not telling us. Like I have said if this was the electric company they would have contacted us within a month or two of no payment.

Torch10, I would have preferred for them to turn the water off the first month if they had not gotten a bill. That was an electric company would do....maybe 2 months, they would at least contact you...this never happened with the water company. Nobody has even been over to read the meter?

Keep in mind that these companies, your electric, water etc can't just turn stuff off at will. There's government regulations that they have to follow in that regard.

It sounds like this house was something you purchased from another individual. My guess is that the account was still running in the other person's name and that they got a collection notice. That person then likely notified the water utility that they had sold the residence, which prompted the utility to look at the account and send a person out to your place to check. Obviously they wouldn't have your phone number or anything like that since you never moved the account to your name.

Also keep in mind that the company services your entire city. Many thousands of individuals in many cases. It takes a bit of time to notice errors.

The bottom line is you've used the service and will owe that money, or they will turn the water off. It may not be right away but once they've satisfied what the government says they have to do, they will turn it off. Then you'll be forced to go down and pay a lump sum. If you're at that point that the service is being shut down, you're not going to get the utility to play nice and give you a payment plan. It can also adversely effect your credit.

Your best option as myself and a few others have pointed out is to go in there, be as nice as possible, explain that you were just a bit naive to the situation and see if they'll help you out with a payment plan.

 

[JBird_Cobra]

That's a bummer, hopefully they'll be willing to work with you. Just like everyone said go in and try to nicely work something out.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum and I have had a two water bills come to my house for the past three months since I moved in... one with my house and one with a different account that they keep sending me.

 

[Nebraska_SHO]

They may not be able to turn off electric/water at will, but they have our address they could have notified us.

The meter has not been read for 13 months. This leaves me to believe that NO ONE was being charged with the billing, how could they? They had no idea how much water had been used.

The area they service is roughly 500 homes.

The people that lived here prior to us foreclosed on the property in 2010. We bought it from a bank.

I left the part out where Bob the water guy apologized to my wife 3-4 times for not having us in the system. To me that is admitting fault.

I understand 100% that I owe money for a service used, however it is a little ridiculous that a company could let something slide for 13 months.

I plan on paying it in full as it will pry be under $600. The average monthly bill is $40-$45 according to Bob.

Thanks for your insight guys, sorry if I come of rude by combating your advice, but I just want you to see the whole side of it if that makes sense? :beer:

 

[CobraBob]

At least you're not paying any kind of a penalty. Nice that you're not making this a big issue, but I would definitely discuss it with the water company. They might just give you some kind of break on the total owed. I have to wonder why they didn't discover the error sooner since they have to have been reading the meter regularly over the past year. If no bill was generated due to the account change, you would think the account would have been flagged and you would have been contacted to open a new account. :??:

 

[SweetSVT99]

As has been stated before, it is the homeowner's responsibility to make sure the utilities are taken care of when you take possession. With that said, I would say the water company holds at least some of the blame since they didn't bother sending any sort of shut off notice for non-payment. Regardless of any regulation stopping them from actually following through with a shut off, the notice should have been sent. I'd start by going to the office and at least getting things changed over and have them give you the total amount they think you owe.

Our water company used to send us a bill based on what they estimate we would use. Twice per year they would actually come to read our meter, our amount owed would be adjusted accordingly, and our next 6 months of bills would be adjusted based on the last 6 month average. That specific system may not work for all areas, but I'm sure a similar system isn't that uncommon.

 

[matab14]

OP I'd try to make it as right as possibly like other have said. I would only request from the water company that they give you printed report of exact usage. If they can't provide back logged data of exact usage, then they should not be able to charge you off what they think you might owe. If they haven't been reading the meter every month prior till now, then that's there own mistake in my opinion and they shouldn't pass the blame onto you.

Granted I live in a small town, Pop. Under 20k, they tend to do a very good job at monitoring the water system. If you are more than 10 days late, they send out 1st notice, after 30 days they shut you off. Once payment is received they have it turned back on in a matter of minutes. So in my mind, if they failed to have the water turned off to your house initially, the blame it shouldn't necessarily fall completely in your court.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

In MD the bill is sent to the home under "current resident" once the former owner closes their account. Surprised they were not doing this, and letting it go unpaid for such a long time. Cutoffs are about a month after the utility bills are due

 

[DAVESVT2000]

I would also ask if the meter has been read for the past year, where has the bill been sent each month and to whom ?

 

[10thAnnvCobra]

If I was in this situation, I'd get there, be as nice as possible and see if they can work with you on a payment plan to get you current.

This is good advice.

 

[Iman01]

In some small towns you are to read your own meter, fill out the paperwork (bill) and submit it with the check.

When you run into issues (like this one) talk to them and they are generally really easy to work with.

When I bought my first house the reading my my meter indicated I used an insane amount of water. When I brought that to their attention they told me to put it down but charged me a much lower amount. It took a few months for them to realize I was reading the meter inside the house and not the outside one that they used. They told me to stop paying the water bill until I caught up to the amount I read on the indoor meter; which they didn't charge me full price for in the first place.

 

[WireEater]

I don't understand how you went a over a year not wondering this yourself... If you didn't see it listed on your electric then why would you assume it was integrated? You didn't get any bills for water/sewage...

It sounds like you probably knew about it but just figured it was a bill you could get away with until they found out about it now you're playing the "i had no idea..." card.

Regardless, you used the water so you should be liable to pay all of it back. Maybe they will be nice and let you pay it in installments.

 

[DaleM]

Sounds like you have an issue with late bills before. Not sure but the way you wrote your initial OP it reads that way.

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

as far as I have always done it from renting to owning it has always been my responsibility to set up the accounts. I do this ASAP as I don't want to be charged for previous owners use. Look at the bill and if it seems accurate pay it because you used the service, just because they did not bill you does not absolve you from owing the payment.

 

[S8ER01Z]

FWIW I live in a pretty small community and reading meters is a thing of the past here even.. .they broadcast wirelessly I believe to listening posts or vehicles that drive around. I believe they told me the battery is good for something like 10 years. Water here is like 12 dollars a month so I wouldn't care about a year of backlog... sounds like things are lot different where you live though.

 

[Kevins89notch]

I had a friend go through a slightly similar situation. Him and his wife bought a house in a nice neighborhood. The neighbors were so happy a nice couple bought the place. The prior owner was a drug dealer, had people OD in the house, etc. Their water bill was always pretty low. After a year or so, the water company informs them the prior owned had broken into the box, and hacked it. They then got a bill for like 3K. I told them to fight it, but they make good money, and they actually used the water, so they just paid it.