{"id":242967,"date":"2026-04-23T08:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242967\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T08:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:11:14","slug":"800-utility-bill-stuns-orange-county-homeowner-i-dont-have-a-water-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242967\/","title":{"rendered":"$800 utility bill stuns Orange County homeowner: ‘I don’t have a water park’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Orange <\/p>\n

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Juliet Francis is used to seeing a modest utility bill in her mailbox.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Living in a one-story home with her husband and son, her monthly services typically range between $20 and $40. Her latest statement from the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) left her in disbelief, a staggering $800.<\/p>\n

“It’s like I’m paying the bill for the whole block… you know, pretty much,” Francis told FOX 35.<\/p>\n

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP<\/a><\/p>\n

The math doesn’t add up for Francis <\/p>\n

Confused by the sudden spike, Francis began investigating on her own. She compared her statement with those of her neighbors, only to find further inconsistencies.<\/p>\n

“I went to a few of the neighbors\u2026 I wanna look at their water usage,” she said. “It’s even higher than mine, and their bills are lower than mine.”<\/p>\n

Francis maintains that her household habits haven’t changed. While she has an irrigation system, she notes it only runs once a week for a short duration. Despite the massive charge, OUC technicians visited her home and told her nothing appeared wrong with the meter.<\/p>\n

“They tell me that the meter is working fine, so it’s like they’re insinuating that I must be using the water,” Francis said. “I don’t have a water park.”<\/p>\n

SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35’S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS<\/a><\/p>\n

OUC responds <\/p>\n

FOX 35 reached out to OUC regarding the $800 bill. The utility company, which said it’s willing to work with Francis to investigate the source of the high usage, provided the following statement:<\/p>\n

“While higher bills can sometimes result from usage or leaks, we understand that every situation is unique. OUC is committed to resolving this promptly and providing the support they need.”<\/p>\n

However, Francis is skeptical of the “leak” explanation. She points out that her usage has since returned to normal levels\u2014something a physical leak wouldn’t do.<\/p>\n

“If there was a water leak, it wouldn’t just run and then just stop and go back to normal,” Francis said. “It would be continuous, and each bill would be high, which it wasn’t.”<\/p>\n

How to Dispute Your Bill <\/p>\n

If you are facing an unexplained spike in your utility costs, OUC has a formal process for appeals.<\/p>\n

You have 60 days from the date of the statement to file a formal dispute. What you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n

Your account numberThe specific dollar amount in questionA clear explanation of why you believe there is an error <\/p>\n

As OUC continues its investigation, Juliet Francis remains firm that a mistake has been made, hoping the utility provider will find the error before her taps run dry.<\/p>\n

The Source: This story was written with information from OUC and statements provided by OUC to homeowner Juliet Francis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orange County News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Juliet Francis is used to seeing a modest utility bill in her mailbox.\u00a0 Living…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47,115,1335,139,141,140,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-242967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-orange-county","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}