Detroit woman, 82, saw her usual $250 water bill balloon to $32,000. The city says more meters like hers are out there

Here’s how the error unfolded, what utility says went wrong and what you should be doing to make sure you’re not being charged more for water than you actually owe.

‘That’s insane’

For someone who typically pays a couple hundred dollars for their water bill, getting a bill in the thousands would be a major shock.

That’s what happened to 82-year-old Larnese Davis, who has lived in her home on the west side of Detroit for 15 years, according to a report from WDIV Local 4.

She recently received a water bill for $32,000 after months of unresolved issues with her bill.

“They said that the bill was $32,000. I was like, 32,000? That’s insane,” Tiffany Damerond, Davis’ daughter, who helps her mother monitor her bills, told Local 4.

Damerond told Local 4 that the bill, which arrives every few months, is typically around $250 to $260. But the family had been having issues since earlier this year — and it’s not the first five-figure water bill that Davis has received.

The issue started in the spring, when Davis received a water bill for more than $1,800.

Damerond told Local 4 that over the next several months, water department workers, as well as a plumber, came to the house to look at the issue. But no leaks were found and they said that the water meter was working.

But then another shocking bill arrived, this one for $16,000.

Damerond told Local 4 that the stress of receiving astronomical bills that she could not pay was taking a toll on her mom.

“She was stressed out,” Damerond said. “She knows I can’t pay that bill, she can’t pay that bill. She was totally stressed out. She kept on calling and said ‘What are we going to do about this water bill? They are just going to shut my water off.’”

Damerond said that after spending months calling the utility trying to get answers, they received the $32,000 bill. When no one returned her calls, she decided to contact Local 4 for help.

After a Local 4 reporter called the utility, the wheels evidently started turning. Damerond got a call from the utility.

“Yesterday I got a phone call,” Damerond said. “They said, ‘I am calling from the water department, I am coming to check the meter.’ I said, ‘You want to check the meter?’ He said, ‘Actually, I am switching out the meter.’”

Local 4 spoke to Sam Smalley, deputy director for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, about what the issue turned out to be.

“In this instance, a vendor, who had certified that their package, the meter, was compliant with our existing technology had not done the things necessary to be compliant,” Smalley said. “We have about a thousand of those meters in our warehouse. We have six more out in the field. We are trying to get a hold of those customers so that we can proactively address it.”

Watch your bill

Davis’ $32,000 water bill serves as a reminder about the importance of monitoring your utility bills. While it can be easy, when life gets hectic, to simply pay your bills without looking at them closely, it can end up costing you.

Reviewing utility bills can alert you to any potential issues with your meters. If you see that your usage or meter reading is “estimated,” that should raise alarm bells.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), “estimated” meter readings can happen because a meter read is obtained “which was inconsistent with the historical usage (too high or too low),” because there was no access to the meter or because the meter is defective.