Virginia restaurant gets $51,594 water bill after meter fault hid usage for years

A Richmond, Virginia, restaurant has received a water bill of $51,594.99 after a damaged meter transmitter was found to have been recording zero consumption. Social 52 Kitchen and Craft Bar said the Department of Public Utilities billed it more than $50,000 in a single month because of a billing error dating back to 2023.

Co-owner James Baldwin told 8News he “never knew anything was wrong”, adding that the company’s water and gas bills are on autopay. The department said that, where no consumption is reported, customers are charged only a monthly service charge.How a damaged meter transmitter led to a $51,594 water billThe Department of Public Utilities told 8News it had introduced several process improvements over the past year.

One of these, the department said, was to verify zero consumption reads for meters. During that process, the department found that the meter transmitter at the restaurant had been damaged, which had resulted in zero consumption reads.According to the PEOPLE, the department said its workers investigated the problem and billed the restaurant accordingly.