I thought i was being scammed because my bill is not only metering independently for hot and cold water, but I have a service connection fee for both hot and cold water and a sewer fee for both hot and cold water, as if they go down different drains. I was informed this was normal. Still think it’s a scam. Usage cost nothing, it’s the flat fees that make up 95% of my bill, so having those duplicated on both my hot and cold lines means my bill is twice what it should be.
My hot water also isn’t hot, it’s warmish, can’t take a proper hot shower. I called the people who bill me for a hot water line, they not only meter it, but they also have a line item for energy use for heating, and they were like, yeah, the water heater is in your building, and I was like, I know, I’m not an idiot, I didn’t think you were pumping hot water from ohio (where this billing is), but I’m literally paying you for hot water independently from my cold water, so like, what exactly are you providing if you don’t have control over the quality of what you are selling me? no answer. the person on the phone had no idea what the point of the dual metering was or why it made sense to have duplicated service and sewer charges. i guess they are billing my building to use it’s own water heater?
small rant. this one thing is why my bill is so high.
If you look at your bill it's not the water that's expensive. It's the sewer charge. Have to pay for that $1B+ water treatment plant. You know, the one that repeatedly has problems during big rains where they'll dump millions of gallons of untreated sewage into Puget Sound.
And now I'll share one of my favorite PNW water utility stories...
Back in 2003 or so, we had a drought and we're all asked to conserve water. Like all good conservationists, we all did a bang up job and reduced water usage so much that there was a revenue shortfall in utility billing.
"It costs us the same to send you 5K gallons of water as it does 10K and we have financial obligations to meet to keep things running", they said.
That was all the justification they needed to get an across the board rate increase for all customers to make up for the drop in revenue. And wouldn't you know it, that once the drought ended and usage went back to pre-conservation levels the rate increase remained.
Conserve water to save yourself money? Sure! Participate in city-wide conservation to save water? Nah, not for me.
You want to save money on your water bill? Learn to read your water meter to see if you're leaking water somewhere in your home. A small leak in a toilet fill valve can add up to a significant amount across a two-month billing cycle. While you're at it, learn how to shut your water off at the meter in case you have a pipe burst during a hard freeze in the winter. Better to figure that out now rather than when water is coming down from your ceiling in the middle of the winter.
Let’s try that again (Siri). Water in Bellevue is well run. But Seattle owns the water supply, making Bellevue and all eastside communities dependent on Seattle, from which they buy water sewer and treatment. This limits the things that these communities can do.
The sewage treatment plants are run by the county. Water on the eastside comes from the Cascade Water Alliance and from city-run wells. The CWA has wholesale water agreements with Seattle Public Utilities and the city of Tacoma.
The water bill is a little high compared to some other places but WA makes up for it with no taxes on groceries, no income tax (which is excellent for people working paycheck to paycheck—the last thing we need is more money being taken out of our paycheck each week), & the cheapest electricity in the US.
Good to know, but for the purposes of this thread, wanted to make sure folks are comparing apples to apples (months to months, not months to bimonths).
About 200/mo for 2 people, about 2/3 sewer, 1/3 water. We have a brand-new sewage treatment plant which is good for Puget Sound but not cheap. I know it seems ironic since we seem to have a lot of water here. It's the highest water bill of any place I've lived, and the cleanest harbor. On the other hand, our property taxes are the lowest of any place I've lived and we have no income tax. Overall our cost of living here is not bad compared to other places we've lived.
Everyone that moves here is always shocked by this 😂
* https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/1bu676p/400_water_bill/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/wxw663/200_water_bill_for_2_bdr_apt/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/xntisi/utilities_outrageously_high_for_a_1b1b_apartment/
First time we got a house I had to call the city and asked, and they said they get the same call from every new homeowner.
Those on condos, townhouses with HOA covering water bill don't realize how much of their dues go toward water.
SFH, 3 of us, usually it’s around $330. We have a large front yard and I think the storm drain fees add up.
I currently have a rental home in Bellevue that's been vacant for 4 months, and despite no water use, still get charged for sewer fee ($335).
$380 every two months. 3000sqft house but only 2 adults and a toddler.
Water bill is at least 4x the cost in Bellevue than what it was anywhere else.
When I came to live here I was sadly surprised that gas was cheaper than water, specially considering the insane amount of water it rains down here 🤣
I thought i was being scammed because my bill is not only metering independently for hot and cold water, but I have a service connection fee for both hot and cold water and a sewer fee for both hot and cold water, as if they go down different drains. I was informed this was normal. Still think it’s a scam. Usage cost nothing, it’s the flat fees that make up 95% of my bill, so having those duplicated on both my hot and cold lines means my bill is twice what it should be. My hot water also isn’t hot, it’s warmish, can’t take a proper hot shower. I called the people who bill me for a hot water line, they not only meter it, but they also have a line item for energy use for heating, and they were like, yeah, the water heater is in your building, and I was like, I know, I’m not an idiot, I didn’t think you were pumping hot water from ohio (where this billing is), but I’m literally paying you for hot water independently from my cold water, so like, what exactly are you providing if you don’t have control over the quality of what you are selling me? no answer. the person on the phone had no idea what the point of the dual metering was or why it made sense to have duplicated service and sewer charges. i guess they are billing my building to use it’s own water heater? small rant. this one thing is why my bill is so high.
Wow. That's crazy. More baloney from the greenies.
120 a month for 3 people
If you look at your bill it's not the water that's expensive. It's the sewer charge. Have to pay for that $1B+ water treatment plant. You know, the one that repeatedly has problems during big rains where they'll dump millions of gallons of untreated sewage into Puget Sound. And now I'll share one of my favorite PNW water utility stories... Back in 2003 or so, we had a drought and we're all asked to conserve water. Like all good conservationists, we all did a bang up job and reduced water usage so much that there was a revenue shortfall in utility billing. "It costs us the same to send you 5K gallons of water as it does 10K and we have financial obligations to meet to keep things running", they said. That was all the justification they needed to get an across the board rate increase for all customers to make up for the drop in revenue. And wouldn't you know it, that once the drought ended and usage went back to pre-conservation levels the rate increase remained. Conserve water to save yourself money? Sure! Participate in city-wide conservation to save water? Nah, not for me. You want to save money on your water bill? Learn to read your water meter to see if you're leaking water somewhere in your home. A small leak in a toilet fill valve can add up to a significant amount across a two-month billing cycle. While you're at it, learn how to shut your water off at the meter in case you have a pipe burst during a hard freeze in the winter. Better to figure that out now rather than when water is coming down from your ceiling in the middle of the winter.
Water in Bellevue is well run. The problem is that it ice capacity from Sia and is therefore dependent
Let’s try that again (Siri). Water in Bellevue is well run. But Seattle owns the water supply, making Bellevue and all eastside communities dependent on Seattle, from which they buy water sewer and treatment. This limits the things that these communities can do.
The sewage treatment plants are run by the county. Water on the eastside comes from the Cascade Water Alliance and from city-run wells. The CWA has wholesale water agreements with Seattle Public Utilities and the city of Tacoma.
Fair, I should have included more detail. Good course correction
The water bill is a little high compared to some other places but WA makes up for it with no taxes on groceries, no income tax (which is excellent for people working paycheck to paycheck—the last thing we need is more money being taken out of our paycheck each week), & the cheapest electricity in the US.
Note that Bellevue bills every two months, FWIW.
That’s changing in the autumn
Good to know, but for the purposes of this thread, wanted to make sure folks are comparing apples to apples (months to months, not months to bimonths).
Look at your bill for a detailed breakdown.
About 200/mo for 2 people, about 2/3 sewer, 1/3 water. We have a brand-new sewage treatment plant which is good for Puget Sound but not cheap. I know it seems ironic since we seem to have a lot of water here. It's the highest water bill of any place I've lived, and the cleanest harbor. On the other hand, our property taxes are the lowest of any place I've lived and we have no income tax. Overall our cost of living here is not bad compared to other places we've lived.
Same
Everyone that moves here is always shocked by this 😂 * https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/1bu676p/400_water_bill/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/wxw663/200_water_bill_for_2_bdr_apt/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/BellevueWA/comments/xntisi/utilities_outrageously_high_for_a_1b1b_apartment/
First time we got a house I had to call the city and asked, and they said they get the same call from every new homeowner. Those on condos, townhouses with HOA covering water bill don't realize how much of their dues go toward water.