CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A Southwest Florida woman called FOX 4 after noticing her water bill kept going up, even when she turned it off for days on end.
Nicolina Gray told FOX 4 anchor, Jane Monreal, "In a store, a woman said to me, 'You should call Fox 4. They have investigative teams that check into this stuff. And they really do good.' And I went, You know what? I think it's going to take that."
Gray says she doesn't like to waste water. She said, "I just want to find out if there is a leak. Please let me know. Please let me figure this out. So if there is, I don't want to be wasting water."
Gray moved to Cape Coral from Massachusetts and bought her home at the end of April of 2021 then, moved into the house on May 2. She noticed the utilities bill almost right away. She said, "I haven't even been here a month and it was for 3400 gallons of water, wow!" FOX 4 got a copy of the bill. Gray was billed $62 for the 3400 gallons. The following month, Cape Coral Utilities billed her over $110 for 5600 gallons. Gray is the only person living in her home. She has another meter from Crystal Clear Water, that she says, has the accurate reading of her water usage.
She stated every time she called the city, a representative suggested she might have a leak or, somebody must be using her water. FOX 4 also got in touch with the city and was assured a utilities representative would look into it. Gray said the city's technicians came out to her house and confirmed that she didn't have a leak. She said she was told, "There has to be something other than a leak here that's occurring."
After multiple correspondences with the city, her meter was replaced August 10. Subsequent readings appeared more in line with the meter from Crystal Clear Water. She said the meter was faulty and the city would give her a $5 adjustment on her bill.
However, Gray claimed another discrepancy after receiving a recent utilities bill for 1100 gallons. That's the amount that Crystal Clear Water told Gray, the average person consumes. Gray said, "But I was not average because I was using way below that. I was using anywhere between 500 to maybe, 800 gallons of water."
Gray said she shouldn't have to pay for water she's not using. She said, "So the 1100 gallons that I'm supposedly using, if they want to have someone come out here and show me different, what the meter on the RO system is not correct, I'll welcome it."
See Gray's complete story tonight on FOX 4 News at 10.
