COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Rose Rosser has lived in the same Columbus home for the last 40 years. During that time, she said her quarterly water bills have been pretty consistent.
“$130… $70… $100… that’s it,” Rosser said.
But one of the most recent bills she received this year was much higher than usual.
“$530, I believe it was,” Rosser said. “Prior to that, it was $300 and some.”
The higher bills, Rosser noted, appeared after her home came under the jurisdiction of the City of Columbus’ Division of Sewage and Drainage, in early 2022.
“So, I would expect it to probably double with putting the city sewage in, that they did,” Rosser said.
But she added that her bills had nearly tripled. So, she made an appointment with the Department of Public Utilities, and a technician came to her home to take a closer look.
“He came back and he said, ‘I’m sorry. I can’t find your shutoff valve.’ I said, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ And he goes, ‘Well, you don’t have a shut-off valve for us to do some additional testing.'”
Then, Rosser said, that was that. There was no resolution and no further communication. But a few weeks later, while she was on vacation, she got a call from her neighbor, who told Rosser that City of Columbus crews were digging up her yard.
“I said, ‘Really? Go out there and ask them what’s going on.’ And he did. And they said they were looking for a shut-off valve,” Rosser said. “And then, from then on, no communication.”
That’s when Rosser called Better Call 4.
We reached out to the Department of Public Utilities, and a representative said in a statement:
“Per our Customer Service section:
– Our records confirm that higher usage during fall and winter (compared to spring and summer) is unusual for this property.
– The owner of this property first reached out to us in January, regarding a higher-than-expected bill received for the August-November billing period. At that time, we scheduled an inspection to check for leaks, which had to be rescheduled for March when there was no answer during the initial visit.
– During the second visit, our technician did not discover any leaks inside the property. Leaks are the most common cause for higher bills, leaks in toilets in particular; the web page linked below talks about leaks and water conservation tips: www.columbus.gov/Services/Public-Utilities/About-Public-Utilities/The-Division-of-Water/Water-Resources-for-Customers/Home-Conservation-Tips
– Also, during this visit, the customer’s yard was wet – the customer told our technician that she believed she was being charged for the water in her yard. We let the customer know that if there was indeed a service line leak in the yard, water from that leak would be seeping out before it reached the meter, so she wouldn’t be charged for that water – though of course we wanted to make sure there wasn’t a leak.
– To confirm whether or not there was a leak, an appointment was made with our Distribution Maintenance section, which maintains our water lines. Initially they could not find this property’s “curb stop,” the valve that controls the flow of water from the main to the customer’s service line. On May 9, our crews located the curb box and repaired it; this required excavation, and we have a separate team in the process of scheduling repair and replacement of the yard, including soil and grass seed. Finding and repairing the curb box also made it possible to check for leaks in the service line – none were found.”
While that did give more insight into what has been happening around Rosser’s home, one question remains — why is Rosser’s bill so high?
When Better Call 4 asked the department about that, we were told:
“As of today, we’re not certain if the customer scheduled a plumber to do an additional check for leaks or if there have been any other changes, but we can say that 72 days into this billing cycle (usually 90+ days), the customer’s water usage is much more in line with historical usage. Since water usage is used to calculate both water and sewer billing, as long as usage keeps its current pattern over the next few weeks, her next bill should be much closer to what she would be used to seeing.”
In other words, at this point, it’s a waiting game to see if any of the work outside of Rosser’s home, including the repair of the curb box, could have helped.
Better Call 4 will have an update when Rosser gets her next bill.
If you, like Rosser, have seen an unusual increase in your bill, contact the Department of Public Utilities.