East Ridge Resident Hit With $600 Water Bill

EAST RIDGE, Tenn. (WDEF) — One East Ridge resident was shocked to see her Tennessee American Water bill this month.

It jumped by 30 times the normal amount.

Frances Cross grew up in the house where she and her husband now live. In 49 years, they’ve never experienced such an unexpected bill from the water company.

“They said that we used a hundred and eight thousand, four-hundred gallons during the month of June,” said Ms. Cross.

Ms. Cross has two water meters. It’s the second one that showed the huge increase. She says that’s enough to fill their above ground pool, more than 4 times.

“I’ve talked to Tennessee American Water company and asked them to come out here and check the meter again, they’ve checked it twice,” said Ms. Cross.

And they were checking again today while we were there. Thus far, the water company stands by their reading, but Cross doesn’t see how it could possibly be accurate.

“I feel like their, um, they made a mistake someplace, some, some, something happened. And the adjustment department called and said they couldn’t do anything,” said Ms. Cross.

Just to be sure…she has had the line checked.

“We have a plumber that we use all the time and he came and checked, and used his equipment and couldn’t find a leak anywhere,” said Ms. Cross.

Frances Cross and her husband are on a fixed income, and she says he’s suffering from a brain tumor and leukemia. So, since she’s unable to get relief from the bill from the company, she’s set up a payment plan.

“Their resolution is for me to pay, pay for it. And I pay for it by paying forty-five dollars over the next fourteen months, every month, on top of our regular bill,” said Cross.

A representative from Tennessee American Water Company says that customers may be eligible for a leak adjustment if a possible leak is detected and the customer has it repaired.