Please read as I will include all details.

We rent and for 3 years the water meter has been in the landlord's name, and he has paid the water bill. When we moved here the landlord did tell me he will break up the meters and I will have to start paying my own bill.

In June 2022 the city came out, extended the main water line and every house was put on its own meter and line.

My first water bill was for 16 days (there are only 2 of us living in a 587 sq ft cottage) and it was for 3,680 gallons of water. If extended 30 days that would be 7,360 gallons. That is simply not possible for us.

Since me and my wife are both very experienced with home repairs, we have maintained the cottage as if our own and know for 100% there are no water leaks. the toilet was tested and I replace the O-ring in the tank just in case. I also replaced the Delta stem in the shower, just in case. I also sit and watched the meter for long periods at a time, even recorded it. When no water is turned on the meter is at a perfect standstill.

Of course I brought the high bill to the attention of the city, at first they dismissed it and blew me off. I filed a complaint with the state comptroller (they did open an investigation) the Consumer Protection Agency and I wrote a letters to each of the Aldermen. That got the city's attention. They replaced the meter and the oddest thing happened. If the math is extended a full 30 days the new meter reads that we are using 1,200 gallons per month. Remember the old meter was reading 7,360 gallons per month, after the meter was replaced with a brand new one it is reading 1,200 gallons per month. So I tried to research this and everything I found says it is impossible for a water meter to read a higher water rate. yet that appears to be what was taking place.

So I tried to research if a meter could be tampered with to intentionally read a higher rate, can't find anything that gives a straight answer. The reason I want to know if the meter can be altered to read a higher rate, my landlord and the mayor of the city are political enemies. The mayor despises my landlord. My landlord has about 56 rentals in the city and their back and forth has been going on for 20+ years. (Our town has no mayor term limits) So I was able to obtain water bills of people that the mayor is not aware of and did a compare and not only was my water rate high but the bill rate was double.

When I spoke to the rep for the mayor I was told to take it up with the landlord, of course he has nothing to do with the city billing me for water in my name.

So my question. Can a meter be altered to read a higher water flow then what is going through it? Don't say impossible, because my old meter was reading 7.360 gallons a month and when the city replaced it it dropped to 1,200. And I can't stress this point enough we have no water leaks. Done did all the detective work on that, and replaced some stuff just to be 100% sure.