{"id":291190,"date":"2026-05-13T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291190\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:58:08","slug":"how-to-check-if-wrong-water-meter-was-installed-at-your-houston-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/291190\/","title":{"rendered":"How to check if wrong water meter was installed at your Houston home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston Public Works installed the wrong water meters at 637 homes \u2014 and most customers had no idea why their bills were so high. Following a KPRC 2 investigation into the city\u2019s water meter mix-up<\/a>, viewers had this question: How do I check my own meter?<\/p>\n

Here is a step-by-step guide to checking your own meter, finding out if your address is on the list and getting a credit if you were overcharged.<\/p>\n

1. Check your water bill <\/p>\n

Start with your water bill. On the second page, the city of Houston lists the size of the meter connected to your home. Meter sizes are listed as 5\/8 inch, 3\/4 inch, 1 inch, 1\u00bd inch or 2 inch.<\/p>\n

If your bill shows a 1\u00bd-inch meter, pay close attention. That\u2019s the size at the center of this story.<\/p>\n

How to check if wrong water meter was installed at your Houston home (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)2. Check the meter itself<\/p>\n

Next, head to your water meter box \u2014 typically located near the curb or sidewalk in front of your home. Open the box and look at the face of the meter, called the register. The register will display a model number.<\/p>\n

According to Houston Public Works, a 1\u00bd-inch meter should have a Badger Model 120 register attached. If the register reads Model 170 instead, that\u2019s the wrong equipment.<\/p>\n

How to check if wrong water meter was installed at your Houston home (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

A Model 170 register is designed for use with 2-inch pipes. When installed on a 1\u00bd-inch meter, it records water usage inaccurately \u2014 either faster or slower than what a customer actually uses. That mismatch is exactly what caused hundreds of Houston customers to receive inflated water bills for months, in some cases years.<\/p>\n

For context: If your bill shows a smaller meter \u2014 5\/8 inch or 3\/4 inch \u2014 you would expect to see a Badger Model 25 register. The model numbers and pipe sizes must match for your meter to read accurately.<\/p>\n

3. Double check the KPRC 2 interactive map<\/p>\n

The KPRC 2 Investigates team has created an interactive map featuring all 637 addresses where the city confirmed wrong meters were installed.<\/p>\n

You can also check addresses on this database.<\/p>\n

If your address is on the list and you have not received a notice from the city, contact the water department directly.<\/p>\n

If your address appears on the map, contact Houston Public Works water customer service to ask about your account status and any credits you may be owed.<\/p>\n

The backstory: How this happened<\/p>\n

Houston water customers have dealt with a string of billing problems over the last four years \u2014 from rate increases to erroneous meter readings. A KPRC 2 investigation has uncovered yet another layer to those problems: Hundreds of customers were billed for water they never used because the city installed the wrong meters at their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently had a bill that was $683,\u201d said Brandon Citizen, a Houston water customer.<\/p>\n

Another customer described the shock of opening his bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day I got a bill and I was like, \u2018Woah! This is, you know \u2014 this is a huge spike,\u2019\u201d said Charles Anyichie.<\/p>\n

Wrong meters, wrong bills<\/p>\n

During a major push in 2024 to replace approximately 125,000 aging water meters and install remote-reading devices, Houston Public Works accidentally installed the wrong meters at hundreds of homes. The faulty equipment led to inaccurate water bills for multiple years \u2014 and most of the more than 600 affected customers had no idea why their bills were so high.<\/p>\n

Heather Laureles was among those customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting up to $300, $500, $700…\u201d Laureles said. \u201cWe have noticed water bills that were unusually high, and sometimes it doesn\u2019t make any sense compared to what water you\u2019re used to using.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tipster provided KPRC 2 with a list of all the addresses where the wrong meters were installed. The source was concerned the city was quietly swapping out the bad equipment without notifying customers \u2014 some of whom had been complaining about high bills for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, they should have sent some type of letter or email or something to let us know what\u2019s going on or what\u2019s causing this,\u201d Citizen said.<\/p>\n

Citizen lives on Real Street in the Gulfgate area. Public Works installed the wrong meters at homes in that neighborhood in September 2024.<\/p>\n

Emails KPRC 2 received through a public records request show the city discovered the error in January 2026. Crews replaced the meters in March 2026. Houston Public Works Director Randy Macchi acknowledged the lapse in an April 15 KPRC 2 interview.<\/p>\n

Macchi explained the error originated when meter manufacturer Badger shipped the wrong equipment in a large order at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey actually installed the wrong register on those water meters. The register they had was not compatible. And so that means the meter itself was registering either faster or slower than what actually took place,\u201d Macchi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless, what it means is the wrong equipment was in the ground. Wrong in terms of broken,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The bad meters were distributed across the city \u2014 from Kingwood to downtown Houston, near the airport and on the southwest side.<\/p>\n

Credits, closed accounts, what customers should do now<\/p>\n

The city is now calculating how much each of the 637 affected customers may have overpaid. Officials are comparing average usage before the faulty meters were installed against what the broken equipment recorded \u2014 and crediting customers the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a customer closes their account, it\u2019s going to be near impossible to do that. There won\u2019t be anything for us to give a credit back towards because the account\u2019s not open anymore,\u201d Macchi said.<\/p>\n

Macchi\u2019s advice: Do not close your water account until you have resolved any potential overpayment with the city.<\/p>\n

\u2018DRAINED\u2019 Houston water department Investigation<\/p>\n

Led by KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis, our investigation spent years shedding light on overbilling<\/a>, faulty water meters<\/a>, and mismanagement of city contracts<\/a>. These discoveries led to the arrest and charges for seven people and an overhaul of how the entire water billing system works.<\/p>\n

If you have questions, you can email Amy Davis at ADavis@kprc.com<\/a> or Producer Andrea Slaydon at ASlaydon@kprc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SEE MORE: Everything you need to know about the \u2018DRAINED\u2019 KPRC Investigation <\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Public Works installed the wrong water meters at 637 homes \u2014 and most customers had no idea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56536,94707,56,58,57,106498,5778,23522],"class_list":["post-291190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-drained","tag-enough","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-water-department","tag-investigates","tag-water-meter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}