When Del and Barbara Anderson's water bill went from around $80 to more than $8,000, they turned to ABC7 On Your Side Investigates.
The Andersons have been married for 67 years, and they've always been proud penny pinchers. So you can only imagine what they thought when their water bill for May arrived, and it was for exactly $8,383.50 worth of water!
"I thought, we don't even use anything that takes in that much water," Barbara told ABC7 On Your Side. "Nothing seems right about this whole thing," added Del.
Their son, Craig Anderson, manages their money and pays their bills.
"Actually, I kind of laughed and said, 'It's going to take care of itself,'" he responded when asked what he thought when he first saw the bill. "We just figured the guy read the meter wrong."
Craig found it funny because the bill said 984 CCF -- or centum cubic feet of water -- was used through his parents' account in one month. That's more than 736,000 gallons of water.
To give that some context -- that's more than enough to fill a 660,000-gallon Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Eyewitness News spoke with the couple's daughter, Melanie -- who lives across the street and checks on her parents at least twice a day -- and we asked her if she's ever seen faucets on, sinks overflowing or her parents accidentally using water in any way.
"No, I have not," Melanie quickly answered back.
Del and Barbara's water utility is Golden State Water Company.
After their son called to complain, Golden State came out and determined there were no leaks at the modest Lakewood home and sent a letter saying, "The results of our field investigation indicated that the meter reading as shown on your current billing statement is correct."
Craig then contacted ABC7 on Your Side Investigates.
After we reached out to Golden State, we were sent the following statement from Central District General Manager Nem Ochoa:
"Although our review is ongoing, the meter reading far exceeded what's typical for a small residential meter. To the customer's satisfaction, we will provide a refund, bringing the water bill down to historical levels."
The Andersons said they're relieved knowing they're getting a refund.
"That's what I think is right. That's the way it should be," said Barbara.
Someone who's possibly even happier is Craig, who's been the one trying to get the bill lowered.
"Thank you to Channel 7 News for listening to this and taking it up," Craig said.
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