HOUSTON – Some of you have contacted KPRC 2 about the water bills you have received this week. We started looking into it and learned it’s a bigger issue that Houston Public Works addressed last night.
Claudia Lara emailed us about a bill she got for $23,000. Lara told us, like several other customers, that when she called the Houston Water Department a representative told her that her meter was replaced, and it may have caused this error. She lives in the Sagemont area.
But she’s not alone. We reached out to ask the city about people who live in the I-10 Eldridge area in the Energy Corridor. A Houston Public Works spokesperson said that the water department replaced about 500 electronic reading devices in that area over the last few weeks.
And then late Thursday night, Houston Public Works tweeted this:
“Houston Public Works is aware of a dramatic increase in water bills after the installation of new electronic reading devices on water meters for customers along I-10 & Eldridge Parkway in West Houston. We are investigating the situation & working to resolve it asap.”
If you have received one of these bills that you don’t think you owe you should call the water department to challenge that bill. You should also email them so you can save your communications with the city.
Old water meters result in wrong bills for customers
In our ‘DRAINED’ investigation series, we have been looking into issues with the City of Houston water department. During our investigation, we have highlighted numerous issues.
In April we looked into the issue of older water meters resulting in wrong water bills for customers. There are about 500,000 water meters in Houston. Each of them is outfitted with a reading device on it that transmits your meter reading back to the water department. But the reading devices are now more than 20 years old and most of them no longer work.
We also have resources and step-by-step guides for how to fight your water bill.
RELATED: Changes to your water bill
Send us a message if you need help!