New Texas homeowner hit with unexpected $10,000 water bill – The Irish News

A new Texas homeowner has described his confusion after receiving a water bill totaling nearly $10,000 just months after moving in.

Seth Priestner moved into his new home in San Antonio, Texas with his family in April.

Just five months later, her usual water bill of about $115 each month had ballooned to $9,707.

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Speaking to CBS affiliate KENS, Mr. Priestner said he initially thought there had been a mistake after being charged for using about 355,000 liters of water that month.

“At first we thought we had been sent the wrong bill,” he said.

“Like maybe they sent us a commercial invoice.”

However, after checking with San Antonio Water System (SAWS), the bill was confirmed as his.

SAWS suggested that Mr. Priestner may have had a leak, so the family hired a plumber — they had fixed a leak in June, but the plumber couldn’t find a leak this time.

After reporting to SAWS, his bill was reduced, but still hovered around $6,500; this included a Stage 3 drought surcharge of $3,500.

The area regularly experiences drought and a stage 3 surcharge of $10.37 applies for every thousand liters of water used in a month over 20,000 litres.

The surcharge would indicate that Mr. Priestner used about 337,000 gallons of water over the limit.

“This is strictly to deter people from using excessive water,” Priestner said of the charge.

“I don’t think that’s the case here.

“It makes no sense to fine someone,” he added.

Local station KENS contacted SAWS and discovered that the supplier had not physically checked the Priestners’ water meter in June or July.

SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said they had “loved” its use in the summer.

She told the station: “Because there were two estimated readings, we couldn’t be sure when the water use occurred in those two months, so we gave it partial credit.”

SAWS later decided to drop the fine after pressure from the press and Mr Priestner.

“We decided, just to be on the safe side, to give him back the credit for the surcharge,” Ms Hayden said.

Since then, SAWS has replaced the family’s analog meter with an electronically controlled one: both the homeowner and the supplier will be able to monitor water use via an app.