The Phone Call from Public Utilities

Tuesday night when I got home there was a message from Public Utilities about an issue with my water meter. I called yesterday, and the woman said that she wanted to send out someone to look at the meter, because she suspected that either the meter was broken, or it wasn't the right type for the computer to read.

Last quarter, I thought our water bill was too high, but I wasn't sure if it was because it was more than 3 months being billed, or if it was because of the sprinkler system, or what. At the time I thought I should call, but I guess I didn't feel like fighting, so I shut down the sprinkler system and paid the $500 water bill.

Now, when I was talking to her, we talked a little about the past bill, and she didn't think that was right, and she said I wouldn't even believe the amount of my new bill. My June-Aug water bill: $2500!

I was chatting with Dave before the utilities man came to check the meter, and we calculated it out... A water bill that high would mean something like 10,000 gallons of water per day. It was so beyond ridiculous, that we had fun with it.
It ended up that the meter was an incorrect type, so it was telling the computer something like 1000 gallons for every 1 gallon used. They're going to review the account to figure out what I should have been billed and what I should be refunded.