RJT
Titanium
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2006
- Location
- greensboro,northcarolina
I had always thought our water / sewer bill from the city was high, we had the meter checked a year after we built the building and it checked out fine. I was told , that's the rate for your usage, seemed high, but thought that was the cost of doing business in the city limits. Assumed industrial rate was higher, so just paid the bills.
22 years later, the city has a new look to the water / sewer bill. It now has 4 different charges instead of 2.Used to be Water charge and sewer charge. Now it's water usage, water availability, sewer usage, sewer availability. I called the city and asked what is an availability charge? They say , because you have a 1 1/2 inch meter, we have to reserve a certain amount of water and sewer to your building and they charge for it. I asked if we ever had used that much, they said no, but it doesn't matter , we have that size meter. They charge for the water and sewer you "could" use. I asked if we could get a smaller meter, they said we need a water audit (by a licensed plumbing company) then pay a $100. service charge to the city to put a new meter in.
I'm now saving $140.00 per month that I should have done 22 years ago. The original contractor never asked how much water we would use, no idea how he sized the original water meter. Never knew it worked that way. It cost me almost $40k before I figured it out.
22 years later, the city has a new look to the water / sewer bill. It now has 4 different charges instead of 2.Used to be Water charge and sewer charge. Now it's water usage, water availability, sewer usage, sewer availability. I called the city and asked what is an availability charge? They say , because you have a 1 1/2 inch meter, we have to reserve a certain amount of water and sewer to your building and they charge for it. I asked if we ever had used that much, they said no, but it doesn't matter , we have that size meter. They charge for the water and sewer you "could" use. I asked if we could get a smaller meter, they said we need a water audit (by a licensed plumbing company) then pay a $100. service charge to the city to put a new meter in.
I'm now saving $140.00 per month that I should have done 22 years ago. The original contractor never asked how much water we would use, no idea how he sized the original water meter. Never knew it worked that way. It cost me almost $40k before I figured it out.