While Houston homeowners struggle with inaccurate, seemingly impossible water bills we are hearing from landlords and renters who say they are ‘DRAINED.’
Investigative reporter Amy Davis is getting to the bottom of one apartment complex water bill that - if unresolved- could leave renters homeless.
If you live in an apartment complex that is not submetered the Texas property code says the landlord can divide the water bill among tenants using one of three different formulas.
But no matter how you divvy up the $18,000 water bill at the Silhouette Studio apartments in Houston’s third ward it is unmanageable.
The 15 efficiency apartments are just 250 square feet each. There’s a kitchenette, a pint-sized bathroom, and just enough room for a bed.
Amy Davis: “At any time since September, have you guys had these full?”
John Bostick: “No.”
John Bostick manages the Silhouette Studio apartments. He’s finding it more challenging these days with the City of Houston water bills running thousands of dollars every month.
“It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. We were at a point where the bill was around $400 a month. And now it’s gone up to $12,000 a month and that’s just a substantial difference when we’re less people that we were,” said Bostick.
Five of the 15 apartments are currently filled. There is no pool and no landscaping. So these water bills would seem to mean five people in these small studios are using more than 100,000 gallons of water each month.
“We brought a plumber out. We’re like ‘My god. There’s 150,000 gallons going somewhere. Is it underneath the slab?’”
He confirmed there’s no running toilet and none of the water’s are left on. He’s called the city repeatedly.
“The city of Houston is saying, ‘We’re supposed to come out. We’re supposed to come out, four weeks. We’re supposed to come out, four weeks.’”
Water meter box is updated with new technology
When we looked inside the meter box we noticed they do have the latest remote read device technology. This sensor sends the meter reading back to the water department electronically.
But it appears the way the water department is interpreting the numbers is the problem.
On February 23rd the meter reading was “01456.” The city is supposed to read just the first 4 digits, so 0145 is actually 145.
On our visit on March 28th the meter reading was 01624. Again, using just the first four digits the reading would be 162.
But when we look at the water bill it appears the city is using the wrong four numbers.
Instead of 141, they recorded the reading as 1,410.
1532 should have been 153.
Using just the first four numbers would mean residents used 12,000 gallons of water not the 122,000 the city billed them for.
“That makes a lot more sense,” said Bostick.
Our ‘DRAINED’ Investigation discovered this exact problem last year.
The City of Houston admitted it was incorrectly reading the meters of dozens of homeowners in the Oak Forest area charging them for 10 times the amount of water they actually used.
We explained what we think is happening with the meter readings at the apartment complex to the water department last week. We will let you know what they say.