SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — A San Angelo man was left surprised after he received a water bill that alleged he had used almost 9 million gallons of water within a month and owed over $117,000 in fees.

Sam Williams, a home inspector with Angelo Home Inspection, said that he saw the bill on Dec. 28, 2024, while in a rush to get to a Christmas party. When he opened the envelope, he was shocked by what he saw.

"My knee-jerk action was like, 'Oh my god!'" Williams said. "After that, I processed it, and I was like, 'There's no way. This is so astronomical and so far off that clearly this has to be an error.'"

The bill, delivered to him for his home's water usage, outlined a fee that totaled $117,483.33 for the use of over 8.9 million gallons of water, causing his overall bill to spike to $117,867.91. He shared that his typical water bill costs between $8,500 and $9,500.

"I just started laughing," Williams said. "I set it down and went to the party, and we all had a good chuckle about it."

Williams said that he never used that much water, which is enough to fill approximately 13.5 Olympic swimming pools as measured by required pool size standards mandated by water sport organization World Aquatics.

"It's an outrageous number," Williams said. "I don't think there's that much water in O.C. Fisher!"

He took to social media to share what had happened, with two of his Facebook posts published regarding the bill having since garnered 200 comments and 461 reactions.

"The more people started responding to my post, I started getting a little stressed about it," Williams said.

Williams contacted the City of San Angelo's Water Customer Service, and representatives who spoke with him were also surprised by the numbers listed in the bill.

"They were like, 'Oh my god!'" Williams said. "Then they started laughing, they pulled it up, they're like, 'Uh, yeah, no, that is absolutely an error on our part.'"

A Water Customer Service representative told a Concho Valley Homepage reporter that the error was caused by a glitch in a computer system related to customers' water consumption. The representative stated that multiple customers reported similar incidents and that corrected bills were being issued to those affected by the glitch.

Williams stated that Water Customer Service has since helped resolve the situation he found himself in.

"They were super helpful, easy to work with," Williams said. "We got a good chuckle about it."

Williams said that he has since framed the incorrect bill and plans to keep it in his office, where he hopes it will make for an interesting conversation piece.

News Source : https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/local-news/outrageous-number-san-angelo-man-receives-9m-gallon-water-bill/