The KPRC 2 ‘DRAINED’ Investigation is getting big results! You may know last month seven people were charged in a water line repair scandal after Amy Davis exposed shady contract dealings. This, is after the entire Houston water department changed the way they bill Houston customers. All of this is in addition to the massive amount of money Amy and the team have helped claw back for customers with high and confusing water bills.
Are you ready for this?
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Since 2022, investigator Amy Davis & the team have assisted 39 customers who received $266,969.28 in refunds and credits.
Here are five of the most outrageous ‘DRAINED’ water bill cases we’ve investigated:
Homeowner receives ‘unexplained’ $4,000 water bill after moving into newly built home
Larry Matthews reached out to Amy Davis about a $4,200 water bill he received for the month of February (2023). It was his first bill in his newly built home in the subdivision of Royal Brook. His bill shows he used 153,000 gallons of water in one month.
Before this Amy Davis did a lot of investigating into why people in new homes were being charged for using large amounts of water they clearly were not using.
In some cases, water employees were interpreting the meter readings incorrectly. Instead of reading the numbers as “6,400 gallons” the customer would be charged for “64,000″ gallons. The city even updated the training manual to reflect this reading change. The city told us all customers were refunded money they overpaid.
In Matthews’ case the water department dropped the $4,2011.54 bill down to $40; but told him why it was so high in the first place is just, ‘unexplainable.’
$15,000 water bill wiped out for single mom
This “big bill” case was probably the most unusual. We first told you Andrea Harclerode’s story March 2023, but she had been trying to get help from the city on her own since 2019 for a $15,000 bill.
Harclerode told KPRC 2 Investigates the city finally wiped the huge remaining amount from her account and then sent her a $1,300 refund check to reimburse her for bills she had overpaid.
After being overcharged and unsure of why her meter dial was not spinning for years, the city finally confirmed her suspicion that meter readers were looking at the wrong meter. Why??
Her meter was found BURIED under a slab of concrete.
Check out how they finally figured out where the meter was and how this could happen.
Navy veteran stuck with $5,000 water bill
Where the city of Houston failed 92-year-old Navy veteran Jessie Lara, the people of Houston stepped up to help. Amy first met Lara when looking into a $5,000 water bill he didn’t think he owed. It was immediately clear that Lara had bigger issues at his 100-year-old home.
In the months that followed, more than 200 volunteers and donors renovated and repaired Lara’s home to help him live in comfort and dignity. His bill was eventually erased.
Homeowner stuck with $39K water bill for home damaged during Hurricane Harvey
We have shown you some very high bills, but this is the highest. Julia Benjamin never fully recovered after Hurricane Harvey flooded her Northeast side home. Mold, foundation issues, and leaks kept her from moving back.
“I miss living in my house. This is where I pretty much raised my kids in this house,” said Benjamin.
The water bill she’s talking about is more than $39,000. Water from a home she wasn’t even living in.
At one point, the city told Benjamin she owed $58,000. She was being billed for hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each month. A leak was discovered. The city did lower the bill to $38,000.
The water department told her she could pay that monthly at $800 a month.
A complicated case that we eventually got to the bottom of.
When the bill was finally erased, Benjamin was able to finish approval for getting her home rebuilt after Hurricane Harvey. She is now living in her brand new home. Check out the update here!
Retired couple shocked and confused about $2,000 water bill
These are supposed to be the golden years for Rajni and Hari Kamnani. They raised three children in their west Houston home where they’ve lived for 30 years. But now retired and partially disabled, instead of enjoying their empty nest, they’re worried their water will be shut off.
“Totally confused. I’m very confused. I don’t know what I should do,” said Hari.
They were stuck with a sudden $2,000+ surprise water bill. It had to do with estimating city meter reads incorrectly. Amy Davis eventually got the bill erased.
KPRC 2′s ‘DRAINED’ Investigation into Houston water department
Since our ‘DRAINED’ Investigation began, the city has made huge changes to how the water bill system works. Customers are being billed averages until it’s confirmed they have working meter sensors. Check out more information about the plan here.
RELATED: Don’t forget about those charged after Amy’s investigation into shady city contracts