CFPUA customer charged for 20,000 gallon increase

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A high water bill can drain a budget, especially for Molly Flynn, whose recent bill shows she used more than 20,000 gallons of water than usual.

She contacted her landlord, Steve McGough, to get a plumber to check for a leak. McGough says there wasn’t a leak. They found something else.

“We saw something we weren’t expecting. Basically the meter was spinning when the water was turned off,” McGough said.

The meter was new and recently installed. So McGough does not understand why this is happening.

“It’s important that they can live. So, something’s going on clearly here and the fact that I’ve heard so many reports from other people about this aberrant behavior and that there’s no apparent recourse other than just to say you have a leak. Which there was no leak,” McGough said.

But CFPUA says the new meter was doing what it’s supposed to do: calculate water use.

“On the face of the meter, there is what we call a leak indicator and if water is being pulled through the meter, meaning something is on, being used or there is water escaping from a pipe, then that leak indicator is going to spin to indicate the water is moving through the meter,” Customer Service Director Kristi Irick, said.

WWAY told CFPUA about the invoice from the plumber which shows no leak found. The CFPUA says they need to see the invoice to possible help the customer.

McGough says he will send in the invoice and hopes CFPUA will address the bill fairly. CFPUA says they do adjust bills if a leak if found. But if not, no adjustments can be made. CFPUA maintains the meter is not malfunctioning.