PHOENIX — Residents of a north Phoenix manufactured home community reached out to ABC15 after they noticed their impossibly high water bills. The complex and utility company has vowed to make corrections.
Residents at the Villa Carmel 55+ community noticed their water bills jumped from the teens to hundreds of dollars just over the course of a few months. While most bills shared with ABC15 were for the past few months, one resident said she’d been receiving high bills for as long as a year.
“Now it’s getting out of hand where they’re charging people $200 to $300 more,” one resident said.
The bills shared with ABC15 from Villa Carmel residents showed charges of water consumption around 15,000 to more than 20,000 gallons of water in just one month. Some homeowners provided inspection reports finding no leaks in their plumbing systems.
For context, in 2024, the average single-family household with at least two people in Phoenix used roughly 304 gallons per day, which would equate to more than 9,400 gallons per month. Manufactured homes also generally use less water than single-family homes.
“Outrageous, this is wrong,” another resident said.
Villa Carmel released a statement saying that they conducted an internal audit and found meter-reading and conversion errors were made by third-party companies in charge of those services.
The third-party utility management company sending the bills, Conservice, responded to ABC15 on Friday, saying that they’re committed to investigating and fixing the issue.
Conservice is used to manage utility services nationwide in manufactured home communities, as well as student, military, commercial and multi-family housing.
Villa Carmel said they have already corrected more than a dozen bills and have been in touch with the third-party company. They promised to reimburse or adjust any incorrect water bills. Read their full statement below:
"We are aware that some residents at Villa Carmel have received water bills that appear unusually high. Upon learning of this issue, we immediately conducted an internal audit. This review showed that the issue stems from meter-reading and conversion errors made by a third-party vendor contracted through our billing provider. We have made both the third-party utility vendor and the third-party meter reader aware of the issue. They have assured us that these problems will be corrected in short order.
Based on our audit and residents who made us aware of the billing issue, we have already corrected and credited the accounts of about 15 residents. Any resident who believes their bill is inaccurate should contact our on-site office by phone, email, or in person. In most cases, we should be able to investigate and issue a credit within 24 to 48 hours.
Villa Carmel does not profit from resident utility charges, nor do we read the meters or generate utility bills. Regardless, we are committed to ensuring every account reflects the correct usage and rates. We want to be 100 percent clear: Any Villa Carmel resident who was overbilled will receive appropriate adjustments or reimbursements.
We sincerely regret the inconvenience this situation has caused for several of our residents. We understand how frustrating and disruptive inaccurate billing can be, and the team at Villa Carmel is fully committed to resolving it swiftly and to making sure this does not happen again."
With more answers, residents expressed their relief Friday.
"Everyone’s going to be happy about that as long as they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do,” a resident said.
