Water meter and bill...am I paying too much?

Question

This is for Chicago landlords with 3 flats. I just received my water bill and it has doubled. I'm billed every two months so presumably I have a meter, but all my bills say estimated. Since I've owned the building (late 2016) my water bills have been around $125 for a 3 flat. This month it increased to $267. Does anyone here have 3 flats, and if so what is your water bill every two months?

John Clark · Answer

"I'm billed every two months so presumably I have a meter, but all my bills say estimated."

========================

"Presumably"????!!!! You don't know?

First, look at the bill. It should say whether your account is metered or unmetered.

Second, IF you have a meter, something is very, very wrong with getting bills that are estimated. The whole point of having a meter is that it gives you precise readings. The Water department drives a truck around and it does a radio query to each meter and pulls the precise usage information. Estimated bills should be very rare.

Contact the Water department (call 311? web site? Dunno.) and find out if account is metered or unmetered and ask why bills are estimated. They'll probably have to send someone out. Maybe the receiving/sending antenna on the meter is broken. Never know until you look.

Walker Kirkikis · Answer

@Ray Harrell I have a 3-flat in Avondale and it runs me $220-240 every other month. I read a post a while back talking about changing the shower heads/ toilets. Yes the pressure will be lower in the shower head but that is the whole point to save on water. I have ordered 1.75 GPM Sava Fixed-Mount showerhead off Amazon for $11. I have not installed it yet but plan to do so in the next 2 months. Hope this helps.

Ray Harrell · Answer

@William Osborne, there are no leaks. The bill is estimated so it's not a matter of more water flowing through the meter. My question was, what is everyone else paying for a 3-flat. If everyone is paying around $250 then I feel lucky that my estimated bills were only $125 for 2 years, and now they are where they are supposed to be.

@John Clark, I've never seen a meter, and have no idea where it would be. However, the bill and my account says it's metered account. I would imagine my meter is not a "new" one, but an old mechanical meter that requires a physical reading (expand your thinking).

@ Everyone, I'm wondering if it's worth it to get a RF meter installed, or do you guys think it may not benefit me. It's possible that my usage is way more than $268 (4 bathrooms, 13 tenants total, and some smell like they don't shower). I'm just wondering why they felt the need to increase my estimate.

Ray Harrell · Answer

@John Clark, if it turns out I don't have an RF meter, you owe me donuts!! I like Dunkin Boston Cream...2 dozen please!

Matthew Olszak · Answer

Ray, a few years ago I had a meter installed in my 2-flat. For 13 months, estimated usage was qty (1) for each month. Then one day, they put a big orange notice on my door that I had to call the water dept. because the meter wasn't sending the signal and if I didn't they'd cut off my service. I called, they came out to rewire the transmitter, and the next billing cycle I got a monster-sized bill with the appropriate usage for the past 13 months.

Your meter will either be in your basement/crawlspace where water service enters the building, or out in the parkway under the gray 10" plastic cap. If its in the building there should be a transmitter outside on the wall, looks like a 5" black plastic oval with a stub out in the middle. One way or another they are eventually going to read the meter and charge you accordingly, so its better to handle now vs. when you go to sell years down the road and get a $10k bill.

I recommend calling the water dept and get them out to get an actual reading and fix/install the transmitter. If they've over-estimated, you'll get a credit, if its under, you could get a large bill. If the later is the case, you can setup a payment plan if its too much to handle for you all at once.

Jon Mulholland · Answer

Hello, similar to other on here, I have a 3-flat in Albany Park and my water bill is ~$200 every two months.

Carmen Noriega · Answer

I had the City install a free meter for my 2 flat and have seen the water bill come down from approximately $1,600 per year to under $700.

The matrix for establishing to calculate/estimate the amount of water used in multi-unit properties does not reflect what it actually happening.

Karlene Hanko · Answer

@Ray Harrell we pay $140-160 every other month for our three-flat.

Ray Harrell · Answer

Thank you to everyone who actually read my post, and didn't offer suggestions as to where water may be leaking from.

Another part to the question, if they did an actual read in 11/2016 when I closed, wouldn't they have adjusted the estimates at that time? I'm just confused as to why the ESTIMATED bill would more than double.

Sam Shueh · Answer

Leaky toilet etc. Work with tenants...

Water meter and bill...am I paying too much?

Most Popular Reply