LAKE WORTH, FL -- We told you about Helen Jones earlier in the week.
The senior citizen is hardly ever home she says, showers at her spa and waters her yard twice a week.
According to her Aqua Utilities water bill though she's going through a thousand gallons of water a day.
"Of course I'm flabbergasted!" she says. "I can't be using this!"
According to the South Florida Water Management District, the average Floridian goes through five thousand gallons of water a month, including sprinkler use.
Aqua Utilities says Jones, a widow who lives by herself, is apparently going through six times that, using roughly 30-thousand gallons a month.
Jones' next door neighbor was also receiving a pretty interesting bill.
Edna Bonnell was going through 124-thousand gallons of water a month. That's a lot, considering she's dead and her house is empty.
"They billed a dead woman for how many months?" asks Holmes.
"Three months, $200 each month," says Jones, who is the heir to Bonnell's estate and who paid the bills.
Both houses have been checked and two different plumbers say there are no leaks.
The women aren't alone.
We've spoken to several neighbors in Lake Osbourne Estates who are all wondering why their bill is so high.
Kelly MacNeil's water bill has jumped so much she's even started rationing out water, requiring her and her son to fill out a water log every time a faucet is flicked.
"You know every time we shower, wash our hands, flush a toilet," she says.
Aqua Utilities is a national company out of Pennsylvania. They buy water from Lake Worth Utilities and then sell it back to around 500 customers in the county. The majority of those live in Lake Osbourne Estates.
Aqua Utilities recently had a rate increase, which was approved by the state. Part of the increase is designed to encourage better water conservation.
The company went through these customer's bills and says each one is correct.
Helen Jones' once $39-dollar bill now really stands at $343-dollars.
The company says she really does goes through 30-thousand gallons of water all by herself every month.
Still, the whole thing has left customers paranoid about their water usage.
"I'm afraid to open it, afraid of what's going to be in that envelope," says MacNeil.
As for the dead woman being billed, Aqua Utilities says it was their mistake. A company spokesperson says there was a discrepancy between a new meter being installed and the billing office. The company refunded around $1300 to Bonnell's estate.
They say all of the other customer's meters in the neighborhood are working properly.
While we were out working this story at Helen Jones' house on Wednesday, her water was shut off. We spoke to the company and they say Jones had given them the wrong numbers in her checking account while paying her bill over the phone. The check didn't go through, the bill wasn't paid on time and so the water was shut off, says a company spokesperson. Jones paid again on Thursday and the problem was resolved.
Still, it's another headache.
"There's something going on that shouldn't be," she says.
