so i finally got my water bill in ... it's almost $40! granted, the city went to a 35-day cycle instead of a 30-day cycle this month (hence the additional monies i'm not used to seeing), but even the "normal" $30-$32 is way too high.
it hasn't always been that way.
many moons ago (read: until march) our apartment complex did business with an individual billing-based water company. it was simple enough — you pay for what YOU use — and was what we considered a blissful time in the bill-paying world. we would watch our water intake and see bills as low as $15 (including wastewater AND trash). sa-weet.
when new management came in, they decided to change companies who did business very differently: community watering.
i remember the information flier that came to our door: "we're switching companies to make billing easier on us. our new company is cheaper and more efficient than our previous vendor ... and as a bonus to you, we'll take care of your pesky trash payment!" yeah. right.
community watering is simple. you pay a portion of the BUILDING'S total water usage, based on "usable" square footage.
i live in a 16-unit building comprised of eight 2-bedrooms and eight 1-bedrooms.
per person, husband and i are paying the highest possible rate (two people in a two-bedroom living area compared to the families of four or five that surround us).
i can conserve water all day long (and believe me, we've tried), but our bills are still astronomical. just because i take efficient showers and sink-wash dishes, doesn't mean the people upstairs aren't having sexy tub parties every night.
other than moving out, there's NOTHING we can do about it. nada.
i need a bubble bath.
Comments (9)
that doesn't seem very fair!
we own our home and live in town limits. we own a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house that is a bungalow-style 85 yr old completely renovated home. We were paying anywhere from $75 to $80 per month for power/water/sewage/trash pickup. That's during the non-summer months and when we use gas to power the heating system. During the summer when we only use gas for the stove and water heater, our power can get up to $100 more a month (air conditioning takes a lot of energy!)... but that's usually only that bad for the month of August. It usually declines in Sept and back to normal by Oct or Nov. Well this summer, the town of Hertford has increased power rates twice and increased the water and sewage rates. Sewage actually tripled from $5/month to $15/month for us and water has doubled. Our power went up several cents on the dollar and so we've been spending at least $230 per month when we are used to no more than $100 a month except for maybe once or twice per year when it gets to about $175-ish. I don't understand how that's ok! How do people less fortunate than us afford to pay their utilities? And buy gas to put in the car, and buy groceries which are outrageously expensive - etc. etc. etc. It's terrible!
We use the submetered system in my complex too, but not just for water, for all utilities. I don't mind it so much, my electricity and water together is normally like $150 for a two bedroom. Sorry you are having to shell out more dough, maybe it'll get better.
Sounds like Obama's healthcare plan! Pay for other people's usage!
:)
Ugh, that's really not cool. I would complain to the management company!
@StewieIsMyHero - @cre13 - ... this doesn't even include the RIP OFF of my electric bills ... what is normally just around $100-$120 is coming out to be $270!!!! ugh. ::sigh::
ewww shitty!
@BarelyJen - Shame! That's BAD!! And it's all the more crap that you can't do anything about it.
Through out the centuries, people have gotten ripped off for no apparent reason other than to steal money form them and bash them. It's a cruel system.
screwed up.