What is your water bill like? (Austin, Sugar Land: house, landscaping, neighborhood)

[Wysiwyg]

$50 - 75 month in Alief

[ZeroTX]

Originally Posted by icon7

with in Sugar Land city limits it is higher...I found out too recently....
For me this is what I have every month $25-29 usage...
surface water charge - $4.xx
Waste Water charge - $37.03
Solid Waste charge - $15.82
Tax - $1.xx

~$60+25 ~ $85+ every month!

Here's what I found out when I called today. The $37.03 is the exact same waste water charge I got. Why? Until they get "historical usage" for you specifically as the owner of that house, they charge you the wastewater based on the "national average" usage. That usage is 9,600 gallons. If your actual usage is below 9,600 gallons, like me, they are screwing you out of money. I asked: it won't be refunded. Apparently we are paying for those who actually use MORE than 9,600. With a small house, 2 people, no pool and no automatic sprinkler system, I intend to keep my water usage under 5,000 gallons per month. Maybe 6k if I'm manually watering in the summer.

This is a rip-off. I'm especially upset now that the horse's mouth (city of SL) told me that I'm actually paying an arbitrary amount of wastewater, even though they actually KNOW how much water I used, because she also made a point to say that the meter is indeed physically read every month. So they KNOW that I used 4,700 gallons this month, but they are charging me for flushing 9,600 down the drain.

Anyway. Yeah, the rates are ridiculous. If my usage goes any more than 5k during the winter, I'm going to have them come change the meter. I used 2-4k consistently for years and never went over 5 or 6k even with heavy watering during drought times (i.e. 3-4 hours of non-stop with two hoses wide open).

To the guy who had 48 usage in seabrook (that's 48,000 gallons) you have a serious/major water leak or you just leave your water hose on all the time... Wow. that's 5-10 times a normal home usage.

-Michael

[icon7]

I was told the same thing...they measure your waste water for "historic" purposes in December and January....It sucks! I asked about getting a second meter for the sprinkler system, but they do not do that in Sugar Land w/o charging you a base $60.xxx a month! I do have a lot close to 2/3 of an acre, with a sprinkler system, but even still I have only used 1600-1700 gallons a month. It is just the 2 of us, and I travel quite a bit for business so no water being used there, we dine out quite a bit too. So i am getting really F*d.

Originally Posted by ZeroTX

Here's what I found out when I called today. The $37.03 is the exact same waste water charge I got. Why? Until they get "historical usage" for you specifically as the owner of that house, they charge you the wastewater based on the "national average" usage. That usage is 9,600 gallons. If your actual usage is below 9,600 gallons, like me, they are screwing you out of money. I asked: it won't be refunded. Apparently we are paying for those who actually use MORE than 9,600. With a small house, 2 people, no pool and no automatic sprinkler system, I intend to keep my water usage under 5,000 gallons per month. Maybe 6k if I'm manually watering in the summer.

This is a rip-off. I'm especially upset now that the horse's mouth (city of SL) told me that I'm actually paying an arbitrary amount of wastewater, even though they actually KNOW how much water I used, because she also made a point to say that the meter is indeed physically read every month. So they KNOW that I used 4,700 gallons this month, but they are charging me for flushing 9,600 down the drain.

Anyway. Yeah, the rates are ridiculous. If my usage goes any more than 5k during the winter, I'm going to have them come change the meter. I used 2-4k consistently for years and never went over 5 or 6k even with heavy watering during drought times (i.e. 3-4 hours of non-stop with two hoses wide open).

To the guy who had 48 usage in seabrook (that's 48,000 gallons) you have a serious/major water leak or you just leave your water hose on all the time... Wow. that's 5-10 times a normal home usage.

-Michael

[YoGaBaGaBa]

This is my first year in a brand new house. How the heck does the city calculate water usage? My current read is 1015, previous is 798, usage is 21? What kind of math is that? I thought it would be (1015-798 = 217). Does the 21 means 210 gallons or 21,000 gallons or what?

Breakdown
Water = ~$35
Surface Water = ~$6
Waste Water =~ $40
Solid Waste = ~$16
Tax = ~$1
Total =$98 !!!!!!! That's just NUTs!

I don't have a pool, but I do run the sprinkler daily, in the mornings, to get the new sod established. Is my bill normal?

[Texas User]

$5 a month.

[XodoX]

4-10 a month.

[Sea2LV2Hou]

Originally Posted by Wysiwyg

$50 - 75 month in Alief

Yup... MUD 6. 56 a month... quite high if you ask me. Then again I have some sheitty running toilets...

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

I live in atlanta...average water bill..... $186.00!!!!!!!!

[pleasesaythe4th]

my last bill was $289.00 for 34,000 gallons

damn

[Redrover]

I live in MUD #4 and my most recent bill was $82. I have no pool, only run my dishwasher once a week, run only 3 or 4 loads of laundry per week and take speedy showers. The bulk of my useage is trying in vain to keep my dying lawn and shrubs alive. I do have a sizeable yard and associated plant beds and I water them with my sprinkler system before dawn (to minimize evaporation) for 30 minutes per zone, four days a week. It seems high to me but I am not sure how atypical I am. But this is prompting me to contact some of my neighbors to see how I compare.