JT, #28,
"Originally the water was paid by the landlord for all six units, but for the last 3-4 months he’s been making us pay it. He just sends us a letter saying "this is what you’ve used and this is what you owe." But we don’t get any official reading from the water company. Liz and I went to the water company to ask for a duplicate bill... just to make sure the landlord isn’t screwing us on the bill, but the lady there gave us some weird info. She said that there’s just one readout for all six units, not individual meters. So she was thinking that he was just taking the reading and dividing it by six and we all split the bill.... but then she asked what we were using and I told her it’s around 4000 gallons depending on which month it is, and she said that doesn’t make sense because the total use for the six units varies between 40-55,000 gallons per month, so if he was dividing it up equally, we should get a bill around 6000-9000 gallons per month, which is not the case. So the lady at the water company and Liz and I are totally confused as to where he’s getting these numbers from for each of the townhomes... and since we’re less than the average use, why does he keep telling us that we’re the highest users?"
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ok, what they've done is run a 'metered' main line onto the property--there are probably some fire hydrants in near proximity w/in your townhouse complex. The water is then run to each unit and is metered via this 'inside' meter, which is strange since it really should be on the outside where the water is coming up to each structure. The landlord then reads the meter and bills privately for usage. I wonder if they make a profit on their water sales? LOL.
We've got local tribe wanting to do this same thing (meter the main) because they don't want to give us a ROW onto 'Soveriegn' land...Pffft!
I guess you have to trust the accuracy and honesty of your landlord. Again, LOL.
Regarding the large, seemingly unbilled-for usage, it could be due to landscaping.