I haven't been home for the past three months. Two people, both plumbers, gave me some friendly advice to turn off the water supply to the house, so I wouldn't come home to a burst or leaking pipe or faucet or toilet. So I turned it off. No one is in the house, the water is turned off just before the meter, and there has been zero usage.
My bill was for $64.92. The residential consumption (which is zero) was charged at $4.18. There's a County Service Fee of $3.42. And a BP Utility Tax of $4.56. The second to largest invented fee is CNM's "Outside Water and/or Sewer Surcharge:" $11.39. CNM doesn't provide sewer service to my street, and if you think the "Outside Water Surcharge" should mean they'd fix broken or clogged pipes they own outside CNM, you'd be wrong. The largest add-on is for the "Residential 3/4 inch Water Base Charge," whatever that is. $41.37, or almost 10 times the alleged, but completely wrong, consumption.
Well, the good news is that this totally made-up bill is less than the previous one of $79.14. At least I was home for part of that one, so there were some showers and glasses of water.
It seems the utilities -- electricity and water -- just take whatever they want, based on nothing, and no one challenges them. "Nice work, if you can get it."
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