LA Family Facing $10,000 Water Bill Suspects Fire Hydrant Repair Error
A homeowner believes a recent municipal repair project may have caused his water meter to erroneously record air as water, leading to an unprecedented bill.
A Los Angeles family is questioning an astounding $10,000 water bill, with the homeowner suggesting that recent repairs to a nearby fire hydrant may be the cause. Joshua Ward, whose family has owned their Sunland property for two generations, stated that such a high charge is unprecedented.
Ward, who is a plumber by trade, believes that crews working on the fire hydrant may not have properly purged air from the water lines after completing their work. He explained that water meters measure usage by volume, and air can cause the meter to spin at a much higher rate than water, potentially leading to inflated charges.
"The way that meters work and the way that they read and track our usage is done by volume. And there’s a big difference between the volume of air going through your meter and the volume of water going through. Air will spin your meter at a very rapid rate compared to how water goes through," Ward told FOX 11.
Neighbors corroborated that the water had been shut off multiple times during the hydrant repairs. While other residents in the area also reported higher-than-usual water bills, none approached the magnitude of Ward's $10,395.98 charge.
Ward's bill is significantly higher than previous ones, even during last year's heatwave when his average bill was around $1,400. His bills in the months leading up to the dispute were considerably lower, with a $765 charge in April and approximately $640 in June.
The incident occurs amidst a backdrop of high utility costs in California. Recent analyses have indicated that the state has the highest electricity prices in the United States, more than double the national average. In response to rising utility expenses, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered the city's Department of Water and Power to suspend utility shutoffs for customers unable to pay their bills through the end of the year. "No LADWP customer who is unable to pay their residential bill will have their electricity or water turned off for the remainder of this year," Bass stated.