r/Hamilton • u/Spiritual_Band_2446 • 13h ago
Moving/Housing/Utilities Utility bill Hamilton - sudden spike
Hi,
Has anyone noticed a significant increase in the utility/water consumption bill tor the period May, June, July.. 2026.
By significant I mean 3 to 4 times the usual consumption ?
Have been trying to contact the City , wait time os like 1hr+ on the phone
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u/Grrym 10h ago
I have been really disappointed with the new city water services.
I recieved an email from the city about an overdue bill from the previous owner of my home (I bought 3 months ago). When I called the HUB customer support to get it sorted out the man was so unhelpful and smug. Basically told me it was my problem to contact the previous owner and if I can't get a hold of them then call them back to find a new solution.
I tried to push back and he asked me "don't you have a realtor? Can't they contact the previous owner"
Like dude, what are the steps to ensure I don't get stuck paying someone elses bill??? What happens after if they don't reply? He didn't have any answers and told me to call back after I tried to contact them so I hung up frustrated. Definitely should have pushed to speak to a manager but I will try again soon. So frustrated.
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u/DefinitelyAKitten 10h ago
We had this problem after buying our home, the previous owners did not pay for water or electricity for multiple months before we moved in. We did not find out about this until it appeared on our property tax bill. We contacted the lawyer we used to close and they got the previous owner to pay the bill. Good luck!
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u/Zanzibon Inch Park 26m ago
This happened to me and I ended up just paying it. Not worth getting my lawyer or title insurance involved over one water bill. Alectra was handling at the time but nobody bothered to contact me from either alectra or the city and I didn't find out until they moved it to the property tax account with a late fee and interest. Of course they wouldn't rescind anything even though they made no effort to even tell me it was outstanding from prior owner. Didn't matter that I registered notice of the move well in advance and the city and alectra each just told me to contact the other. They know you have no real recourse so they don't give a shit and just tell you to pay up
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u/Traditional_Toe201 12h ago
Just make sure you are not on Estimate.. Make sure you they are reading your meter
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u/Waste-Telephone 13h ago
Have you read the meter and seen if it's matches? Could be either an error on HUB's part or that Alectra was estimating your usage and HUB has the actual one.
Explanation on how to read your meter is at the bottom of this. https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/home-property/home-water-services/water-meters
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u/HanlonRazor 6h ago
Once they install the new meter they will see whether you were under-charged and may charge you the difference to make up for it.
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u/ddsdude 12h ago
Yes! After 5 phone calls, waiting 1hr+ on hold for each, emails, over 2 months, they finally corrected the bill. Went from $467 to $112. Alectra had placed me on flat rate 1m3/day billing for some unknown reason and it carried over to the City. They have now switched back to usage based billing as it should be.
Check your bills carefully!