Saskatoon woman handed $33k water bill from the city

Trinh Nguyen couldn't believe her eyes when she got a staggering utility bill from the city.

After paying her monthly bill for years, the city was seeking more than $33,500 for water and sewer usage.

"I think it's outrageous," she said. "I feel like I'm being robbed by the city."

Nguyen's troubles started on June 8, when -- after years of efforts -- she called the city to come and install a smart water meter in a rental property she owns.

The city worker who came to install the new meter quickly realized there was a missing component for the installation, and manually jotted down the numbers on the meter before rebooking the installation when they could come back with all the necessary parts.

Two days later, Nguyen received a call from city collections notifying her of the large bill.

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"I think it's criminal, honestly," she said. "I don't think anyone can afford such a bill."

"I honestly thought it was a fraud call or something."

Mike Voth, the city's director of corporate revenue said the unfortunate situation is a combination of yearslong unnoticed water leak and a lack of access to the property.

For roughly four years, the property was on an automatic billing cycle based on estimated usage, not actual water usage during that time. Once the city worker plugged in the new numbers, the difference between the paid amounts and the actual usage was realized.

The culprit seems to be an upstairs toilet that was leaking for potentially years. Nguyen called a plumber and had the small leak fixed in roughly 15 minutes.

"It's quite amazing what a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week leak, how much water can be used or consumed in this case," Voth said."Over the course of several years, unfortunately, that's the gap between what was billed and paid for and what was actually passing through the meter and being used."

Voth said the city attempted to contact the property owner 14 times in the past four years to try and access the meter for a physical read. Had a read been done in that time, the city would have been able to notify Nguyen of the high usage and potential water leak.

Voth also said the city tried to install a smart meter in the home in 2019 and 2021, but crews were unable to access the home.

"Over the course of several years, unfortunately, yeah, that's the gap between what was billed and paid for and what was passing through the meter and being used," Voth said.

Voth said historical numbers from that property show roughly 50 cubic feet of water being used per month. Using measurements from April 2022 to May 2023, roughly 530 cubic feet of water was being used.

"It's about 12 or 13 times that every day for quite a lengthy amount of time," Voth said.

In her initial call with the city, Nguyen said she was offered to pay $1,400 per month for the next two years to help pay down her debt. Nguyen refused.

"I am thinking of calling a lawyer to fight this because I am not paying something like that," Nguyen said. "You know, it's ridiculous to even think about it."

Voth said the city isn't thinking about forgiving any of the money owed but he added the city will not turn off Nguyen's water, and it will always work with residents to pay down large bills over lengthy periods of time.

Voth encourages residents to call the city and ensure they are part of the roughly 70 per cent of homes with a smart metre and to immediately fix any water leak in their home to avoid pricey water bills.