Water Bill

[Yogamom]

Guess I should just give up on this - but - I am still upset for the increase.
In two years for Jan 2008 comparing to Jan 2010 .
Year 2008 - usage = 21 (what ever 21 means)
Year 2010 - usage = 19 (less usage than in 2008)
The bill in 2008 was $145
The bill in 2010 was $196
THAT IS A 35% INCREASE - even by using less water in 2010 than in 2008.

murph,
My bills are like yours.

[bigbill]

Guess I should just give up on this - but - I am still upset for the increase.
In two years for Jan 2008 comparing to Jan 2010 .
Year 2008 - usage = 21 (what ever 21 means)
Year 2010 - usage = 19 (less usage than in 2008)
The bill in 2008 was $145
The bill in 2010 was $196
THAT IS A 35% INCREASE - even by using less water in 2010 than in 2008.

you're preaching to the choir. We can't even vote for the politicians that imposed this on us. Maybe I'll try to register to vote in Sunrise.

[Tantris]

you're preaching to the choir. We can't even vote for the politicians that imposed this on us. Maybe I'll try to register to vote in Sunrise.

On the contrary, yes you can, and you don't even have to move to Sunrise. It's the Weston City Commission that votes to award contracts to our city providers, and it was they who originally contracted with Sunrise to be our water provider. Presumably, whenever our Sunrise contract is up for renewal, they have it in their power to set up a bidding process and award the contract to some other entity that is more cost-friendly. That's what they did a while back when they took our garbage contract away from BFI and awarded it to All-Service, and after they did that, our garbage bills went down (for a while, anyway).

Having said that, I freely admit that I know just about nothing about the mechanics and administration of water providers. Is it actually possible for us to buy water from Cooper City or Miramar instead? Are they even set up for doing that, and if so, are they cheaper than Sunrise? I would bet that Fort Lauderdale can and does contract their water out to other communities, but once again, are they cheaper than Sunrise? Bottom line, while I'll don't know the answers to any of those question, someone in the Weston city government structure should, and they should probably be trying to get some refreshed answers to those questions to get us some relief.

[bigbill]

On the contrary, yes you can, and you don't even have to move to Sunrise. It's the Weston City Commission that votes to award contracts to our city providers, and it was they who originally contracted with Sunrise to be our water provider. Presumably, whenever our Sunrise contract is up for renewal, they have it in their power to set up a bidding process and award the contract to some other entity that is more cost-friendly. That's what they did a while back when they took our garbage contract away from BFI and awarded it to All-Service, and after they did that, our garbage bills went down (for a while, anyway).

Having said that, I freely admit that I know just about nothing about the mechanics and administration of water providers. Is it actually possible for us to buy water from Cooper City or Miramar instead? Are they even set up for doing that, and if so, are they cheaper than Sunrise? I would bet that Fort Lauderdale can and does contract their water out to other communities, but once again, are they cheaper than Sunrise? Bottom line, while I'll don't know the answers to any of those question, someone in the Weston city government structure should, and they should probably be trying to get some refreshed answers to those questions to get us some relief.

I realize that its a deal that someone (probably Arvida) made with Sunrise. I have never seen mention of an expiration date for the deal. It is probably renewed in perpetuity with complete pricing freedom like the cable deal used to be. If Weston was to switch providers, it would have to provide some physical connection to the other water company. The costs of that are not small. Realistically it would not be feasible to hook into the water supply of any city that does not border on weston. That would limit us to Sunrise, Davie and Southwest Ranches. I assume SW Ranches buys their water from someone and I don't know about Davie. I doubt if Davie would be willing to cut us a great deal since we are fighting the Davie Commons project so strongly.

Our mayor and Commissioners could try to negotiate a better deal with Sunrise. Back when the rates first jumped, I saw an article in the Sun Sentinel about the Sunrise water utility. It seemed to indicate that their deals with all non-Sunrise customers were the same 40% higher than Sunrise rates. Would they be willing to make us a better deal?

Of course Weston could build its own water treatment facility and associated storage and distribution facilities. I don't know if thats a feasible option for a city of Weston's size.

[tlute81]

If you had no change in usage, I don't see how your bill could quadruple. When Sunrise changed the rates on us the water portion of the bill went up around 50%. It would be interesting to compare the bills from the month before and the month after to see what happened. If you had no change in usage and the bill went most of the way back down the next month, there had to be some error. With no change in usage, you don't have any leaks. The HOA should be using its own water for the easement pressure cleaning and that will be reflected in your HOA dues. If Sunrise doesn't respond to you, I'd send an email to the Utility Directors in both Sunrise and Weston, both mayors and both city managers. If you still get no response, you can always try Help Me Howard. Rember there is a SunSentinel reporter who posts here - he'd always appreciate a scoop on mis-billing by the water company.

Much of my career was spent in pricing and planning for utilities. If you want a professional Not Crap review of your bills, let me know.

I'm in Pembroke Pines Bill and live alone with my dog in a 3 bedroom Townhouse with a monthly water bill of only $45.00. In the month I was referring to, my bill was $160.00. I'm sure it was the pressure cleaning. When I say I had no change in usage, I meant me. My bill reflected a huge increase in water use. When the Plumber came he found no leaking and the meter out front was not moving. (This happened in November '09), I don't know when the 50% jump you refer to happened

[billuscher]

I suggest that if you a problem with your water bill contact Mayor Hersh, he negotiated the contract with Sunrise.

There were plans for Weston to build its own water system when Sunrise came up with what was promised to be a good deal.

[bigbill]

I'm in Pembroke Pines Bill and live alone with my dog in a 3 bedroom Townhouse with a monthly water bill of only $45.00. In the month I was referring to, my bill was $160.00. I'm sure it was the pressure cleaning. When I say I had no change in usage, I meant me. My bill reflected a huge increase in water use. When the Plumber came he found no leaking and the meter out front was not moving. (This happened in November '09), I don't know when the 50% jump you refer to happened

I assumed you lived in Weston since you didn't indicate otherwise and i was talking about the rates we pay in Weston.

A couple other possibilities are a misreading of your meter or a failure to read your meter. Some meter readers are to lazy to bother doing the actual reading and put down a number which they think is approximately right. Eventually someone actually reads the meter and you get trued up.

For your bill to go up $115 due to the pressure cleaning, I think the cleaners would have to use your water to clean your entire community. Pressure cleaners do not use a lot of water to clean a sidewalk or driveway. When my roof, house and driveway are pressure cleaned, I do not notice a significant impact on my water bill.

[pks2141]

Guess I should just give up on this - but - I am still upset for the increase.
In two years for Jan 2008 comparing to Jan 2010 .
Year 2008 - usage = 21 (what ever 21 means)
Year 2010 - usage = 19 (less usage than in 2008)
The bill in 2008 was $145
The bill in 2010 was $196
THAT IS A 35% INCREASE - even by using less water in 2010 than in 2008.

I think someone in Sunrise has confused themselves with Evian.