A woman got a $20K Columbia water bill by mistake. Were you overcharged too? It’s possible
Receiving monthly water bills is never a fun activity, but it’s rare that they’re also shocking.
Janel Stier of Richland County had that experience a few days ago when her Columbia Water bill showed she owed $20,000.
“My husband and I were extremely upset,” Stier wrote in a message to The State.
Robert Yanity, communications manager for Columbia Water, said the bill was part of an error that potentially impacted thousands of customers.
“We have 10 billing cycles and we had a glitch in our system that impacted one of the cycles and sent out erroneous bills,” Yanity wrote in an email. “So essentially this potentially impacted about 10% of our customers.”
According to its website, Columbia Water serves approximately 375,000 customers in Richland and Lexington Counties, meaning up to 37,500 people potentially received some type of glitched water bill this cycle.
Yanity added that the issue had nothing to do with any new water meters the city has been installing.
“We are investigating the issue and hope to resolve it so it doesn’t happen again,” Yanity wrote. “We apologize to all those impacted.”
Stier wrote that she’s been in contact with a Columbia Water supervisor and is still waiting for the issue to be fully resolved.
“She said that she has to let IT know right away,” Stier wrote about her conversation with the supervisor. “I told her I have since downloaded the (Columbia) app and the app shows I have a leak that’s 1.2 gallons per hour, which still wouldn’t equal that bill amount.”
Stier added that she and her husband stayed up for hours to make sure no water was running.
“Ironically, at 9 a.m. we received an alert that there was no leak,” she wrote.
If anyone suspects they might have recently received an erroneous city water bill, the best way to resolve it is to contact Columbia Water’s customer care center at 803-545-3300 to have someone immediately check your account.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 10:24 AM.
