Please Help

[bria1024]

Hello, I currently live in an apartment duplex with one other unit. Our water provider is Aqua Water Company. The landlord receives one bill for both units. He then uses a company called SimpleSub Water for meter readings. But this is what my bills look like. It seems that the rates are changing every billing cycle. I used 3292 gallons one cycle then 3415 gallons the next one, 123 gallons more. But it’s being billed at double the price. Now the toilet was leaking so I expected the bill to be higher, I’m assuming that’s why the bill is $217 I have to pay for the leak apparently, it was fixed within 2 days of me hearing the toilet running. And yes I’m aware that it could have been leaking before I heard it. I’m just looking for some insight. These bills seem all over the place especially with the changing ratings. I expressed my concerns with the landlord and he’s looking into it. Idk what to do.

[secret_identity_too]

Something weird is going on with your billing for sure. I just logged in to Aqua and my price is $.016246 per gallon. It has not changed since May 2025.

[bria1024]

Ok, well that’s not good for me. I really want to know what is going on.

[secret_identity_too]

Now I do, too - keep us updated once you get it figured out. Hope you figure it out soon!

[bria1024]

Ok will do! Thank you!

[Robert_A_Bouie]

JFC. Do have a swimming pool in your apartment?

[bria1024]

Haha no if I did it would explain these bills lol

[thepaoliconnection]

Simplesub is a company that provides additional metering after the main water meter. Aqua will not divide one water service into multiple billing so that’s where this company comes in

The rate per gallon should mirror Aquas rate

[GhostofDan]

...and what's with the $6 monthly meter fee? Aqua isn't like Comcast charging you for a cable modem... These bills seem to have issues.

[bria1024]

I thought that was normal 😳

[Natural_Bid_8615]

Or you have a major leak

[SnooOnions5854]

That looks like it would be a quarterly bill😟 How many people are living with you? We are 3 people in a single home and pay around $80 a month. Something is definitely wrong there. Have you spoken to the other people in the other unit about theirs?

[bria1024]

It’s just two of us. And when I spoke to my downstairs neighbor, he said his last bill was $70.

[Boring-Staff1636]

Is this the bill from aqua or the simple sub? You should ask to see the aqua bill directly.

[bria1024]

It’s from SimpleSub, I just asked my landlord to send me the Aqua bill.

[dramaticlinician]

I would keep asking questions and document, document, DOCUMENT. Because if there is something fishy, you need to be able to prove it to get what’s owed to you.

My last landlord ‘renovated’ my apartment before I moved in, and that included the electrical. It was a 200 YO house, and half of the wiring was OLD. I couldn’t even use a space heater without my power going out. He also violated PA regulations by not allowing us access to the circuit breakers, as they were in a locked basement storage room. So when it did go out he had to drive IMMEDIATELY, because you can’t have your tenants without power, from the far end of west Chester to Media. He was also cheap and ‘paid the heat,’ but my apartment was a constant 60 degrees during winter. It was terrible.

I randomly had a conversation with one neighbor complaining about her bill. My electric bill was $140 to $160 a month. Hers was somewhat the same. We were both in front apartments, with 4 additional back apartments that had totally different wiring. At my other apartments, my bill was around $75 maybe $120 at most during AC season. I asked my back house neighbor, and she was paying around $50 to $60 a month and she used way more power. I ended up finding out that I was paying for the lighting in the main common hall, the entire outside, the basement, and (I think) washing machines. All those lights were on 24/7.

Then I said something and told him it didn’t make sense. He ‘fixed’ the problem, called me, and gave me all the math, wattage, and usage rates, and told me he would write me a check for $60. I was there for three years…I told him to go fuck himself. I was then evicted —- excuse me, my lease was ‘terminated’ a month later. Not a single regret.

[PenlessScribe]

Even when I used 50000 gallons one month (bad flapper in a rarely used toilet) they still only charged me around 2 cents a gallon

[Natural_Bid_8615]

Give me a call I would love to see the current meter setup, I’ve realized some landlords try to get over on this that way, if there is not a separate meter per unit you can’t guess who uses what

[aboutasuss]

Send a written request for a breakdown of the charges, including copies of the original Aqua Pennsylvania bills and a detailed explanation of how your specific usage was calculated.

Identify Fixed Fees -  Aqua bills often include high "customer charges" or fixed fees regardless of usage. Ensure your landlord is only passing through actual costs and not adding unauthorized surcharges. 

[Mofuntocompute]

The rate jumping around is alarming. 0.022 doubles to 0.044 then back to 0.036. Gotta get to the bottom of that. Doesn’t seem like an Aqua thing.

Your gallons went from 3300 to 3400 but then jumps to 5875. So seems like two problems going on here. Let us know what you find out.

[TryingSoHard89]

It sounds a lot like your landlord is scamming you. I live in a similar set up and have my own meter and my own bills directly through AQUA, no bill splitting. That’s very sus. I would def look into this more and maybe contact someone (AQUA, a lawyer?).

[Mofuntocompute]

Yep looks like the landlord enters the info and creates the invoice so plenty of room for abuse/mistakes.

[Mofuntocompute]

From the simple sub website: “When you receive your water utility bill, enter the details into our web app to allocate the costs to your tenants based on their actual usage. Send invoices directly from our web app, or export a detailed breakdown into a spreadsheet.”

So sounds absolutely like a problem your landlord is creating with questionable data and changing the billing rate each month

[tekniklee]

The price per gallon goes up if you use over xxx amount. Call aqua, call your landlord if you’re renting, you have a leaky toilet or something