'Check your bills': Homeowners frustrated with thousands of faulty water meter transponders in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The City of Melbourne confirmed to FOX 35 this week that "thousands" of transponders that help relay homeowners' water usage to the city are failing. That data is important because it determines how many gallons of water a homeowner or renter uses each month – and how much people are charged.

Another challenge - the city has purchased thousands of new transponders to replace the old ones, but supply chain issues are causing delays, and the city does not have enough people to replace the faulty ones fast enough, according to a city spokesperson.

How FOX 35 found out about this story

A FOX 35 viewer reached out to FOX 35 earlier this week after he unexpectedly received a $410 bill months ago from the City of Melbourne for unpaid water usage over the last 23 months – nearly two years worth of water that he claimed he wasn't aware he hadn't been paying.

He said he worked with the City of Melbourne to understand what happened, the discrepancy, and was placed on a payment plan. His water bill also included trash and other utilities, so when he did not notice a major drop – or increase – in his bill, he didn't take extra notice.

That was until the City of Melbourne sent him a letter and a bill seeking $400 on top of his new monthly charges. FOX 35 verified the charges via the man's bill. However, he declined to talk with us on camera.

FOX 35 then reached out to the City of Melbourne to ask about this person's specific case, but also to understand the scope of the issue.

Here's the City of Melbourne's side of the story

A spokesperson for the City of Melbourne confirmed to FOX 35 that thousands of these transponders are failing – possibly due to their batteries dying.

When these transponders fail, the actual water usage someone uses may not always be reported to the city, which could lead to inaccurate reporting on the bill. The City of Melbourne accounts for this and will often bill based on an estimated rate – using water usage data from several months earlier – until the issue or data can be fixed.

The goal is to actually underbill rather than overbill, a spokesperson told FOX 35.

For the man who reached out to FOX 35, the City of Melbourne said for 23 months, he was only charged the base rate – a little more than $8 that everyone pays – but not for his actual water usage. 

So, the City of Melbourne eventually billed to collect that data. Another issue, that man was charged late fees, when he wasn't supposed to be.

What's next?

The City of Melbourne confirmed to FOX 35 late Wednesday, after our initial story deadline, that it has more than 10,000 work orders for "register replacement" in its system – and an additional 1,300 reports that still need to be investigated.

A spokesperson said the transponders, which typically last between 10-15 years, have likely reached the end of their battery life and need to be replaced. The city said most of the work orders involve transponders installed between 2006 and 2009.

Of the 10,000 work orders, more than half were reported in 2023, however, there are thousands that were reported in 2021 and 2022, according to city-provided data.

A spokesperson said 3,000 new transponders were purchased in July 2022 – and an additional 8,000 were approved to be purchased in 2023. However, delivery of some was delayed and when they do arrive, staff can only install so many at a time, creating a backlog.

"As the supply chain issues impacted the City’s vendor have begun to improve, the delivery of retrofits to the City has outpaced staff’s ability to install the retrofits on impacted meters. The City is currently working through the procurement process to obtain a vendor that may be able to assist in installation of the retrofits, speeding up the process," the City of Melbourne said in a statement.

It appears that FOX 35 broke the news to some residents in Brevard County.

"That would hurt anybody. It doesn’t matter how much money you make," said Charles Yeater, who pays for city water in Melbourne. He was reacting to the possibility of not knowing if he was being correctly billed or not.   

"Whoa – yeah, that’s crazy," said Tyree Perkins. "I feel like the city should be in constant communication when something like that is going on." 

Here's what you can do - and what to look for on your monthly bill

If you look at your water bill and see an "E" on it, it means the City of Melbourne determined the amount based on an estimate of how much water was used. So, what you're paying now, may not be the full amount – and means you could owe more later.

Another option is to carefully look over the bill each month and to contact the utility with questions.

There is no timeline for when all the transponders will be fixed. To be clear, however, the transponders are part of the water meter process, but the City of Melbourne confirmed that peoples' water meters themselves are working properly.