CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Some residents of a local mobile home park are asking the Troubleshooters for help because their monthly water bills have skyrocketed.
Some went from less than $400 to more than $800, and the only explanation was that submeters were not properly recording actual water usage resulting in charges that were lower than the actual usage indicated.
On May 15, Elia Garcia and some other residents of the park, received a letter from management. It addressed the spike in their monthly bills, saying it's due to submeters not properly recording actual usage, resulting in lower than normal charges.
Garcia has lived in the park for four years.
"My water bill since I've been here is like $70.00. In June I got a big high water bill. It was like $800," she told the Troubleshooters.
Compare that to her normal monthly bills going back to October. All less than $400.
"I panicked. It's not my fault," she said. "They're saying about the submeter didn't read. I don't have the money to pay for that."
Garcia is on a payment plan, but the conditions she claims she's living in at the mobile home park are less than sub-par.
"Right now I cannot go to the restroom. I have to go to the store because all my sewage is stopped up in my commode. If I flush it, my showers, all that sewage and poop is coming up."
The Troubleshooters went to the park office to try and speak with park manager Kandace Kerr.
No answer.
We also knocked on the door of her home.
No answer.
On October 18, the Troubleshooters sent Kerr an email, asking for answers to our questions about the spike in some residents' water bills. Her only response, days later, was for us not to come back on the property.
We eventually spoke to her by phone on Tuesday, October 26.
She told us she's been instructed not to speak with us, and she didn't have time to give us contact information for property management.
And as for Garcia, she tells us she's already paid off her big bill through the payment plan, and found someone to fix her plumbing problems, at least for now.
