Richmond Resident Hit With $2,300 Water Bill After Leaking City Meter, Gets Credit Once CBS 6 Steps In

A Richmond man says a leak at a city-owned water meter pushed his monthly bill from $81 to more than $2,300, and that he only got relief after a local television station contacted the city on his behalf.

Ben Saunders said Richmond's Department of Public Utilities called him earlier this year to warn that his account might be tied to a water leak. An ice storm initially kept him from checking, since the ground was frozen. "This was during the ice storm, so like the whole ground was frozen over," he said.

When the ice thawed, Saunders opened his water meter and found it flooded. He told the city the leak was its responsibility, and crews ended up replacing the meter.

His March bill, however, had swelled to more than $2,300, compared with $81 in February. Saunders said the most troubling part came next: a disconnect notice. "I got a disconnect notice, which, that was the most troubling thing out of this was the disconnect notice," he said.

A customer service representative at the department first told him a credit for the water lost to the leak would arrive within 7 to 10 days. It never did. The city instead encouraged him to enter a promise pay plan to avoid having his service cut off.

Saunders said he agreed because he did not have time to call the city daily. "I just did it because I'm too busy to call the city every day and try to get it sorted out," he said. He planned to use the plan to keep the water on while he worked out how to recover the credit.

He then saw a CBS 6 report about another Richmond resident whose water flow was restricted over a large unpaid bill that also stemmed from a leaking city water meter. Saunders contacted the station, which in turn reached out to the utilities department for him. As happened in the other woman's case, the department moved to credit his account once the station got in touch.

Saunders said he doubts he would have gotten there alone. Had he not reached out, he said, he would be in the same position after receiving his latest bill, with disconnection still possible.

He now wants the city to change its procedures so others avoid the same ordeal. In his view, when a city worker replaces a meter and sees it was leaking, that finding should automatically prompt the accounting department to credit the bill, rather than taking months and making someone pay money they never owed.

The Department of Public Utilities said the leak at the meter meant it needed a couple of billing cycles to complete the adjustment. The adjustment should appear on Saunders' next bill.