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1. What is considered average water usage?

The Texas Water Development Board estimates average monthly usage for Texas water utilities ranges from 7,380 to 8,514 gallons. The City of Melissa’s average residential consumption is approximately 7,400 gallons per month. Additionally, the City’s rate study showed that on average, nearly 50% of residential customers were billed at the Tier 1 rate for their monthly water consumption charge. This along with the statewide data further suggests that volumes in the higher tiers appear to be a choice.

2. Where could the increase in my water usage be coming from?

Concerned about the recent increase in your water usage? There are many possible causes for high water consumption. Here are some tips that may help and first questions to ask:

• Do you have new landscaping, grass, or plants?
• Did you have an extra house guest during this billing cycle?
• Have you increased the frequency or duration in which you water your yard? If you water manually, take care not to over-water.
• If you have a swimming pool, did you fill or drain it during this billing cycle?
• Do you have a water softener? - A faulty timer or stuck solenoid may waste hundreds of gallons of water per day.

If any of these apply to you, these are often common causes for increase water consumption and would likely have a temporary impact on your water bill.

3. Could the increase be due to irrigation and/or outdoor watering?

Very likely! Landscape watering typically accounts for the majority of household water use during summer months. Higher water use increases water bills - and increases the demand on our water supply.

Additional Information

• Verify the settings on your irrigation controllers and/or timers. Make sure your system is set to water when and how much you want and that you are not watering more than twice a week as stated in the current water guidelines.
• Be sure your sprinkler system controller has a fresh battery so that it can maintain the watering schedule in the event of a power outage. Without this backup energy supply, the controller goes back to the default settings - often watering every day.
• Conduct a full irrigation system audit - An audit of the irrigation system has been shown to be the most effective tool for maximizing water use efficiency in the landscape. Irrigation audits consist of three main activities: Site inspection, performance testing, and irrigation scheduling.
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Earth-Kind program offers a simple guide to conducting your own audit (PDF).
  • City of Plano has a good interactive resource on how to identify problems and repair your sprinkler system.

4. My bill seems higher than usual?

It may be higher and there are a number of factors to look at when you see an increase in the amount of your bill:

• Evaluate past water bills and consumption - Compare your water utility bill with past bills, from the same month, to see if the consumption is larger than usual. Keep in mind to check the consumption, not the dollar amount of the bill, as water rates have increased from year to year.
• Monitor your usage online in the U2You Customer Portal and/or by checking your water meter - We encourage customers to read their own meter and keep track of the reads at different times to see how much they are using following activities such as irrigating, laundry, or just to see daily use to help give a better idea of how much water households are really using.
  • You can share these reads with utility billing and public works staff so we can help gain a better understanding of your usage patterns and reasons for the increase.

5. My consumption did not change greatly but the billed amount did?

This is likely due to the new rate structure that went into effect in October 2017. Although the City reduced the standard minimum charge for water from $31.53 to $24 (based on standard 3/4 inches water meter), to do this and maintain the integrity of the water fund, the City also adjusted the volumetric tiers for water consumption - applying the wholesale increases from NTMWD primarily to the higher volumetric tiers to further incentivize conservation. Therefore the City acknowledges that higher users (above average) will likely pay more in volumetric charges under this new rate structure.

New Rate Structure’s Impact on Above Average Consumption

The table illustrates the changes in the tiers under the new rate structure. Note that those that use over 15,000 gallons now enter Tier 3 whereas previously Tier 3 kicked in at over 20,000 gallons.

Usage Tier	2017	2018	Volumetric Rate 2018
Tier 1	1 to 10,000	1 to 10,000	$ 5.70 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 2	10,001 to 20,000	10,001 to 15,000	$ 8.99 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 3	20,001 to 60,000	15,001 to 50,000	$ 11.23 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 4	60,001 to 100,000	50,000 or More	$ 11.84 per 1,000 gallons
Tier 5	100,000 or More	N/A	N/A
Minimum Fee	$31.53	$24	N/A

Example - 16,000 gallons 

• 2017 (Tiers 1 to 2): Minimum Fee $31.53 plus Consumption Charge of $98.12 is $129.65
• 2018 (Tiers 1 to 3): Minimum Fee $24 plus Consumption Charge of $113.53 is $137.53

Although the minimum fee for water was reduced by $7.53 for all users, those that are above average consumers of water will enter the higher tiers (3 and 4) and therefore the total cost of water would end up higher for the same amount of water consumption due to the new rate tiers.

Don’t Get Caught off Guard to Avoid the Higher Tiers

The City has invested in tools to empower our customers to take control of their water usage. Customers who chose to conserve can maximize potential savings by signing up for WaterMyYard and following the weekly watering notifications which are based on truly local weather data. When you couple this information with the data that is available through the AMI system and the U2You portal, our customers can take control of the greatest impact on their water usage, outdoor watering, thus helping to avoid surprises in their bill.

6. I am concerned my meter reading is not accurate?

If you are concerned with the accuracy of your water meter reading:

• You should review your water usage data in the Customer UtoYou Portal to see if there are any immediate irregularities.
• You may also email the Utility Billing for assistance in looking at the AMI data or if you are not signed up for access to your data.
• Utility Billing can also request the Public Works get a physical re-read of your meter to confirm that the reading is inline with what the AMI reads suggest.

Accuracy Test

After looking over the consumption data, if you are still concerned, you can conduct your own meter accuracy test using a simple industry accepted way to test its accuracy - the 10 gallon bucket test. To complete this test do the following:

• First, make sure all of your water is turned off.
• Next, write down your meter register reading and the number of gallons indicated by the sweep hand. This hand measures from 1 to 10 gallons.
• Now, fill ten gallons of water into a measurable bucket - many will use two 5-gallon buckets to make it easier.
• Finally, return to your meter…your sweep hand should have advanced proportionately to the number of gallons that you measured into the bucket. Note: the sweep hand should have advanced between 9.8 and 10.2 gallons for a ten gallon test…the American Water Works Association (AWWA) accuracy standard is any test between 98% to 102%.
• Note what the new read is on the meter and how many gallons were shown to have been used by the sweep hand. Anything less than ten gallons, the difference is favoring you.
• However in the unlikely event the sweep hand is ½ gallon or more than the ten gallons on the dial, please email Utility Billing or call 972-838-2035 and we will schedule an official test with public works.

The City of Houston has a video that explains how to verify the accuracy of your water meter and they cover how to do this test. If you are not comfortable completing the test above and are still concerned, you can schedule Public Works to come out and look at your meter and the associated equipment at any time. Utility Billing staff will be glad to assist with this request.