WASHINGTON - A Georgetown resident got quite the surprise when he opened one of his water bills earlier this year.
Jeff Cochrane is used to paying anywhere from $80 to $100 a month for water in the District. But, in February, he was charged close to $700 for his water usage in January.
DC Water claimed his property had used more than 36,000 gallons of water during that period.
"I can't think of anything that would have happened to us that we wouldn't have noticed," Cochrane said. "How do you lose 36,000 gallons without noticing?"
Cochrane immediately notified DC Water about his bill. He said the utility company then sent a second person to his home to check its meter.
According to Cochrane, the man then noticed a discrepancy between the physical manual reading of the meter and what the utility company sees on its computers.
"Eventually they sent me a bill investigation report, which said that my water usage was back to normal, therefore I must have done something to fix it," he said.
But Cochrane said his household did nothing differently during that period. On top of that, he said he was confused as to why DC Water still expected him to pay the bill.
"In fact, they have not admitted that there is a problem with this meter," he said.
Cochrane eventually decided to appeal the bill. DC Water said it encourages its customers to do so whenever they have a concern about what it is charging.
DC Water also said it plans to test Cochrane's meter once again. However, Cochrane said the utility company came by his property less than a week ago without warning.
At that time, Cochrane said the person who looked at the meter told him he was asked to reset it because something was wrong with it.
WUSA9 asked DC Water if issues like Cochrane's were happening elsewhere in the Georgetown neighborhood. Two other residents recently wrote about similar stories on the Georgetown Listserv.
DC Water said it could not answer that question, however a spokesperson said the company planned to look into the issue.