Officials: Lisle man paying on $3,300 water bill caused by bad meter

A Lisle resident who got a water bill for more than $3,300 because of a faulty remote meter apparently has decided to pay off the debt.

Village officials say Stephen Spratt has been making regular payments since the town charged him $3,321 for water on his Aug. 28 utility bill.

"We've had no more conversations that I know of with him," Village Manager Jerry Sprecher said. "I think at this point our assumption is that he will be paying off the bill."

Spratt could not be reached for comment.

Spratt received the large bill because he wasn't charged for hundreds of thousands of gallons of water his family used over a 19-year span, officials said.

Between 1996 and this year, Spratt was charged for water based on information provided by a remote meter outside his house. No one, including Spratt, checked during that time to see if the reading from the device matched the reading from the water meter inside the house.

When Lisle replaced Spratt's water meters in July as part of a villagewide replacement program, officials discovered the indoor meter had a reading that was 819,000 gallons more than the reading on the outdoor meter.

Village officials say the problem was caused by the remote meter, which apparently malfunctioned because of age, wear or damage.

The village charged Spratt a reduced rate for the past water use. He can repay the outstanding balance via a payment plan at no interest.

Sprecher said more than 100 customers who received replacement meters this year had discrepancies. But he said most of them owed the village $50 to $100.

While three other customers received bills more than $1,000, none of them owed as much as Spratt.

"That's not to dismiss the others that were over $1,000," Sprecher said. "That's a big bill. But he, unfortunately, was the highest."