We got a letter from the town water department indicating that their last meter reading showed zero usage and unless we were out of town or something the meter is probably stuck and needs replacing. I looked at it while water was running and indeed it's not moving. I gave them a call.
They won't be out to change it before the end of the week. I'm inclined to think that we have lucked out and can run all the water we want, unmetered, during these scorching hot days. They didn't say but I would suppose they'd send a bill reflecting average usage. But is that true?
Here is the meter:
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I think it was made by Rockwell and the main unit might be original to the house (1957) while the upper part with remote reading to a thing on the exterior of the house was added maybe 15-20 years ago.
It's definitely not moving. Are they going to get this back to the shop, dismantle it, and be able to get a reading off the little gears or is it really totally stuck in which case the usage will never be known?
I'm assuming a small residential meter like this is positive displacement. If that part were realy stuck wouldn't water flow stop?
Free water for a week or it's going to come back to bite me?
Local option; if water is at all expensive or particularly if there's rationing now or in the foreseeable future I'd surely not expect a free pass, no. If, otoh, it's a locale w/o much concern over local water supply and cost, they may.
But, would your first thought be try to game the system other than because maybe can? :(
I'm sure they'll put their top ace's on it for a week or two. The experts that they have sitting around, waiting to take apart failed meters to try to figure out the exact amount of water you used for a month. After that, if they still can't somehow extract the amount of usage from that failed meter, they'll send it to the FBI for further forensic analysis.
They probably have surveilance on your house right now just to make sure you don't take advantage of them. I have visions of your whole house, full of all kinds of jugs, pots and pans. I'll bet you're even making sure you flush each time you pee and taking extra showers, aren't you?
They may bill you a minimum charge, but with no meter, they can't bill other usage.
No telling how long the meter was stuck. Last reading period you got some free water too as it was not working for some time during the previous billing period. .
No, but someone with greater knowlege of these meters than I, or you apparently, might know that, say, it's the modified upper part that's failed and that it's very easy to get the figures.
Likely? No. Possible? I don't know; that's why I have asked. To make sure that my initial thought that it's unreadable is true.
Who is gaming the system? When there is a legitimate and desirable but not required use for a product, it is rational behavior to use more of it if it's free or unmeasured. Elasticity of demand and all that.
No one is talking about wasting water down the drain just because we can. We're in part of the country that has been scorching hot the last few days. I'm inclined to water the lawn and garden more if it's unmetered; that's all. It's a legitimate use for water and only natural to use it more of it if it will not be reflected on the bill.
This may well be a nicely constructed troll, with pictures included, but I'll bite anyway.
Listen to yourself. Have you actually convinced yourself that you are not trying to game the system?
If watering your lawn is what you would consider a legitimate use for water, then you should water your lawn just as much when you are paying for it as when you're not.
*Someone* will pay for it eventually. As small an unmetered amount as you might use during this period still has to be accounted for in the water district's budget. I doubt your water district is a profit making entity, so somewhere along the way, the cost of your free water has to be dealt with.
If you feel that it's "only natural" to use more water when it's not being tracked, then you must feel that it's "only natural" to rip off those who will eventually pay for it - including yourself - if they spread the cost around via higher rates to account for the losses. No, I'm not saying that your free month will cause an increase in and of itself, but it will result in lower revenues that will have to be factored in come budget time.
Using more water when you don't think you'll have to pay for is gaming the system in no uncertain terms. If you didn't think it was, you wouldn't be bragging - err, I mean 'asking' - about it in this group.
Feel free to try to convince yourself that it's not, but don't waste your arguments on me.
If neither the dials on the meter itself orthose on the remote unit are changing, then there is no way for them to determine how much water you used. (I used to work on remote reading systems).
They will most likely attempt to bill you for estimated usage. Whether you are required to pay for it or not probably depends on the T&C's you agreed to when you signed up for water.
I agree it is not "gaming the system", but watering the lawn is usually a huge waste just to make something look green. Watering vegetable plants or a hanging basket of flowers makes some sense.
Many areas have water restrictions in place. Check to be sure you have none or you can get a fine for watering. You want to be sure fire fighters have plenty if needed too and not a trickle because everyone is making dandelions grow better.
I would fully expect to get a bill based on either average use over a year or average summertime use. If a previous month before the zero bill showed a major drop they might reasonably assume the meter stopped during that period and do something about estimating that.
Doing something about a gradual slowdown I would highly doubt because that's probably not how a meter fails and in any case, peoples' usage does change over time for many reasons and saying it's been dropping since 2010 so we're going to re-bill you for the past couple years based on 2009 usage is preposterous, if that's what you are suggesting.
It is for us. We do water our lawn when it hasn't rained in a while. Our town has had no water shortages so that's not an issue at all. Will I water it more if it costs me nothing. Of course. I can't say flat out that everyone would because many are too lazy or don't care regardless of whether water was always unmetered. But in general, people tend to use more of something if it's unmetered. Does that make them criminals? No, it's a natural behavior.
Many single family homes in Chicago, for example, are flat rate / unmetered. I don't know what stats they have but it's reasonable to assume that the unmetered homes (all things being equal--number of occupants, interest in gardening, interest in keeping the car clean etc.) would use more water. That's a primary reason to install meters.
Trivial. You don't know much about water service. They probably lose more on water main breaks (the ones that are large enough to be noticed and get repaired) and ongoing leakage (the kind that is not detectable) in a day than I could hope to use in a year. Thus no one is going to pay higher water rates. Unaccounted for water from leaks, firefighting, stuck meters, etc. is a natural part of the business.
"Rip off" suggests a crime is being committed. That is not true. I am a paying customer of the water system. Through no fault of my own I have been switched for one week from metered service to unmetered, flat rate pricing (assuming they will send an average bill, not a zero one). As a customer, I respond to rate changes. If they raise prices significantly I would cut my use of the product. If they lower prices significantly, or, in this case, switch to flat rate pricing for a period, I may freely choose to consume more.
If the electric rate triples I would be more careful in my electricity use. If it dropped a lot, while I cannot think of an electric equivalent of watering the lawn, I might be less careful about turning things off. None of that is gaming the system. It's normal customer behavior.
Thanks for the first real answer. The dials on the meter head have not moved. The remote is just a black plastic knob (no dials) sort of thing that the meter reader puts his/her reader thing over. Could be RFID but I don't think that existed when this was installed so maybe some sort of inductive device. Rockwell Touchread I think.
The issue is that the water company is not making an offer of free, unmetered water. You are deliberately taking advantage of a mechanical failure of their equipment. If you came across a vending machine that was clearly malfunctioning and you could take all the contents without paying, is that right or is it theft?
Which they have done in your town, so what happens in Chicago is irrelevant.
While that extra water is small in the grand scheme of things, it is still measurable. The system pumps do use electricity and it costs to filter, add chlorine, etc. Some places actually pay to buy at least some of their water from other water companies.
That argument reminds me of a friend in college who thought it was perfectly OK to steal phones from the phone company, using similar logic, because the cost of one phone was negligible.
Also, before concluding that deliberately using extra water is not a crime, I'd suggest you read your states laws. I would not be surprised to find something there that could cover it.
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The point that escapes you is that the utility did not make a rate change. This is due to a failure of equipment. Following that logic, if a shopkeeper fails to put a price sticker on an item, or happens to leave a stack of $20's by the cash register, they are free too.
Keep spinning, but Derby is right. It is clearly gaming the system and it also just might be illegal.
Boy, you're dumber than I thought. What makes his answer real? Is he the guy that designed and built the particular meter you have? Experienced with water company meters? Seems unlikely that he knows any more about water meters than anyone else here, but he does have one qualification. He's given you the answer you want so you can go use that extra water, gaming the water company and the other rate payers.
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