Is Your Water Usage the Same Each Month?

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Is your Utility Bill the same each month?   Here is some useful information… 

 

Having monthly Utility Bills that are the same several months in a row is a common occurrence, and is no cause for alarm.  Most households use about the same amount of water from month to month.  If your water usage does increase more than 1,000 gallons from one month to the next, consider whether or not there was a reason for that increase (e.g., like watering outside plants and washing your vehicle). 

 

The district is able to obtain a water meter reading every month, eliminating the need for estimated readings.  The district takes these meter readings on approximately the same day each month.  This smart point metering is a precise and accurate way of recording a homes’ water usage. 

  

Your water meter usage may appear to be the exact amount every month, but that is because water is billed in thousand gallon increments.  The districts water meter reading system does not pick up the last three digits on the inside water meter.  Since these last three numbers are replaced with zeroes, in essence your usage is rounded down to the nearest thousand gallons.  

 

For example, your water usage billed may show on your bill as 2,000 gallons.  Your inside water meter may have read 1,293,652 gallons.  The “652” gallons are dropped off and the reading would appear on the bill as 1,293.   Since the previous reading also ended in three zeroes, the difference between the two (your current usage) will always be an even number in the thousands. 

 

Please be aware that these “dropped” amounts will eventually

be billed once they add up to 1,000 gallons or more. 

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Please do not hesitate to call or email the Orange Co. Water Control and Improvement Billing Department if you have further questions at (409)883-4003   or April@OCWCID2.com.

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