Legal Question in Consumer Law in Florida
Water Company Billing on Estimations
We recently rec'd a letter from our water company stating that due to a problem with OUR water meter sticking we owed an additional 300.00+ for an estimated amount of water used. The water company claims to have made this estimation based on the past 12 months of normal water usage. I have a few problems with this. First is the fact that the water meter they claim is OUR meter is actually the property of the water company itself. Therefore we should not be charged for losses caused by their faulty meter. Secondly, this estimation based on a 12 month period includes time when we had a major pipe break and were charged for a large amount of water that cannot be classified as normal usage. During this pipe break our bill was mas more than double one month and four times as much the next month. Because of this the water company's estimation cannot be considered a normal use estimation. Then there is the question of whether it is legal to be charged for water based on an estimation at all. It seems to me that if the water company's meter caused them a loss they should take responsibility. After all, if the customer has a pipe break on their side of the meter the customer is stuck with the bill.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Water Company Billing on Estimations
Disclaimer: reading this constitues a general discussion and is not intended to constiute legal advice to be relied on. If you do not agree then do not read further and delete this message.
Did you not happen to notice that you were using water for an entire year and not paying for it?
Damages must be proved to a "reasonable" certainty, not to an absolute certainty. The City would more than likely prevail against you for unjust enrichment because you accepted the benefit of their product/services without paying for it and without objecting to it. It should come as no surprise that they are trying to get reimbursed for what you have used.
The question is really only how much should they be compensated. Therefore, explain your situation and why you believe that this year's water bill would have been less, and try to come to some sort of negotiation with the city. But with all due respect you are not entirely blameless.
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