Philly Water company making me pay 6 years worth of bills?

[Mauricio Botero]

So I'm about to refinance on a house in Philadelphia that has been rented out for the last two months, and that I've owned for almost a year. At closing when I purchased it, the city did a water reading and it was just 30-40 bucks, no big deal. 

Fast forward to this past month when the title company started doing their thing for the cashout refinance, and I see that I am going to owe a few hundred dollars at closing! Coincidentally at the beginning of the month, I receive a water bill for over $3,000! Looks like the city realized that something was wrong with the meter for the last 6 years and they are charging me for what would have been the estimated usage. 

Needless to say I am beyond frustrated as I had closing scheduled for a Friday, was finally shown the HUD the day before, and immediately postponed the closing.

Property management called the water company and I followed up to put it under dispute. Their turnaround on this review is "up to 30 days". Ouch. 

Any recommendations on how to prevent this in the future? 

Has this happened to anyone with the Philadelphia City Water?