Wow... someone needs a lesson in common sense!
I've been receiving water bills for my house in Minnesota that are extremely high given the fact that the only water usage per month is incidental (neighbors come over to flush toilets and run water about once a month). Almost 40$ a month type extremely high. Nowhere near a sensible value given the amount of water used.
So I called city hall this morning to find out what was up. My guess was that it was a minimum charge, but that I'd be able to do something about it given my extenuating circumstances. Well, I was right about one part, but wrong about the other.
Honest to god, they charge you almost 40$ a month regardless. That's simply the base water bill for everyone in the city of St Augusta. And they will not reduce it for any circumstances! To put this into perspective, when I lived in Sartell (about 20 minutes away), the average watering bill for a summer month was about 40$ a month. That was with 3 people living in the house and watering the trees and grass. I don't mind a minimum charge (I have one for gas and electric), so long as it's reasonable (~10$). But I don't see much point to paying almost 500$ a year for something that's unused.
There's two reasons I think this is asinine. 1) There is an automatic meter on the water line, so they know exactly how much water is used every month. There is absolutely no logical reason for the minimum charge to be so high aside from "highway robbery." 2) It costs 25$ to turn your water back on.
Um... did someone miss a math class somewhere? It costs me *less money a month* to simply shut the water on and off than it does to pay the minimum water bill! Wow.
Why didn't you shut the water off before you left?
Does this base water charge include ANYTHING other than water ? In some jurisdictions the base charge is both water and sewer and just being connected to the municipal system is all it takes.
The other thing to consider is that it may be that the actual base is the amotization of the amount it cost to install the entire water service for a neighborhood.
Hard to know why this is the way it is but it does seem steep for no real usage. Are your neighbours using your water to do their lawns, fill pools, etc ? :)
If no one is living there why not turn the water off, drain the lines, and turn the heat way down (if not right off) At least you cannot get frozen & burst pipes if they are emptied of water.
This is recommended for people around here if they go away for an extended period.
@DeanG -- because I wanted the neighbors to have the ability to flush the toilets (so they don't get scummy) and water the trees if needed. The amount of water used in either case is very minimal.
@Norman -- yes, this includes sewer charges (they assume 17$ for water and 17$ for sewer, plus extra charges for city street lights, etc).
I'm hoping to find a renter ASAP (getting tired of paying the mortgage and rent!), but if I don't locate one in the coming weeks, I plan to drain the water and shut it off entirely.
Find a renter ? ... man you have property in the wrong place.
Around here the vacancy rate is about .01% and rental places are gone faster than people can think about moving out.
It makes for nutso rents. My daughter and a friend just rented a 900 sq foot two bedroom apartment .... 1300 a month and that does not include cable, internet, etc.