Monthly payment option for Toledo utilities begins this mont

As a suburban user, I won't be a monthly payer if offered the option. I want an actual usage bill, not an estimate.

I will never pay on estimated, I read the utility meters myself as a check & compare consumption m/m. This option to pay water/sewer monthly is a ruse to make the increases easier to swallow, for some.

Oh, I don't know. The city seems to be very good at keeping track of money especially when it's not tracked. lol

Just hope the former department of neighborhood employees aren't handling your payments.

I send them $50 each pay period, which is twice a month. When my quarterly bill comes, I look it over and see if I need to adjust the amount for the next quarter. Beats the heck out of dealing with a quarterly bill.

I wonder how easy it will be to opt in & out of this? I like the idea of smaller payments, but if the numbers look wonky I want the option to opt out...

since when does our so called 'water bill' have anything to do with actual usage?

Upso, it's my understanding that the monthly thing is just an option. Folks can keep paying quarterly if they wish.

Quarterly? Monthly? When we first got city water years ago, they only read my meter once a year - so I paid once a year. Not my fault they stick the meter in the middle of wetlands at the front of my property and had a hard time finding it. They finally started reading it quarterly and I've been sending them monthly payments to make my budgeting easier for the last 6 months or so. No need for coupons or an 'approved' program, I just started doing it because I don't always see the bill.

Holy moly gamegrrl - how many people do you have living in your house?? Roughly $100/month for your water bill? Mine is always around $160 per quarter for three people household... and we aren't exactly the type to conserve our water.

There are just two adults living here, dell_diva. I'm convinced there's something wrong with the meter or something. We have a toilet that sporadically "runs", but that's about the only thing I can think of that could be causing it. Our bill is typically $330 per quarter, give or take a few $.

Our bill is always over $300/quarter as well, but we have to pay all the surcharges the city adds on for Sylvania Twp. (I believe our rate is nearly double what Toledo residents pay!)

gamegirl - I don't know how you would do this, but is there some way you can get your meter checked or look for a leak somewhere?

Our water bill for heavy use summer quarter, when I'm consistently running an irrigation system for lawn and landscape beds, plus managing regular small water changes in a 2,750 gal koi pond, a 500 gal gold fish pond, plus a running fountain and constantly, automatically replenished birdbath, plus the daily use of two adults hit a high of $327.37. We also pay the additional "suburb" charges. Its a regular summer Niagara here. We do get the winter saver rate on sewer usage, with the sewer portion of charges based on February's use.

And, No - I have no interest in conserving water. None. Nada. Zip. Don't even go there cause it will fall on deaf ears. I'm actually considering replacing the 2,750 gal pond with a 5,000 gal one. I have a small collection of conifers from all over the world. I have Hydrangeas to die for that also need regular moisture. In addition, a pox on the "plant natives" people with their smug attitudes because natives are supposedly more environmentally friendly. Bologna! There are literally tons of Mediterranean non-invasive hybrid perennials that are equally disease resistant and drought tolerant, and they look a hell of a lot better. Anybody can have a garden that looks like an unmowed rural roadside. I'll match my bee count in my hybrid perennial garden to any native planting anytime. Bees don't know the difference. I know I have more birds, winter and summer. Steps down from soap box.

For those of you who do conserve. Thank You! That means there's more for me.

Oh my, that felt good.

Holland, I really do need to get this situation checked out. It's nothing new: The water/sewer bills have been high like that for the ten years we've lived here. I hate calling those people - They're hard to connect with, and they're rude. But I know it needs to be done.

sigh

Update:

In today's mail, I received monthly payment vouchers. Apparently they did send to suburban customers.

Looks like you have an estimated voucher for the first 2 months of the quarter, then get the bill in the final month of the quarter for the balance.

I'm all for budget planning in a household. But why does the water department want the money before you use their utility or garbage?

Remember when the city came and annexed us they promised free garbage and lower water bills. What the saying, Liar, liar pants on fire.

Jackie, I'm confused as to why you think they are asking for money before the service is used?

The (voluntary) monthly payments would be based on your estimated water consumption for the prior month. A person would essentially be making a payment on what they had already used for the month.

BTW - the suggested amount on my vouchers ($52) was very reasonable compared to my average quarterly bill.

That isn't that bad. We get our water from a company in Bowling Green and pay almost 90 bucks a month. So far our lowest bill has only been 70 dollars

Update: Recently received water bill, and it was $447 for three months. That's insane. Yes, for the past three months we DID have a toilet that would randomly decide to run, and MAYBE that accounted for the $137 increase in this bill. Whoo the heck knows?

Toilet has been fixed. Now we need to determine if there's a leak somewhere. Maybe shut off the water in the house, then see if the meter numbers keep increasing?

There are two adults in this house, one bathroom and a highly efficient dishwasher. We don't take an excessive number of showers or do a ton of laundry loads each week. Just seems odd.

what the hell? that is craaaaaaazy.

A running toilet should be fixed ASAP, costs a lot & with quarterly readings you will get hit hard. The water dept will let you PAY monthly but they still only READ quarterly. GG-was the bill estimated or actual?