I got a water bill on 11/23 for 17,000 gal . Checked my lines no leaks , checked the meter and nothing is moving , not even the leak indicator . This was on 11/23 the day I received the bill . Happened to look at the dial and it reads 986330 , looked at my bill and it says 389600 , read on the 13th this is 10 days latter . That is 596,730 gallons in 10 days . I have watched this meter every day and nothing moves . Water dept came on the 2nd day of December to check and say I must have a leak . I don't see any way for for over a half million gallons to go through a 3/4 sch 40 pvc at around 40 psi in ten days . We pay $25.00 for the first 2,000 gal and $3.50 per 1,000 gal for all over that .
This adds up to over $2,000.00 water bill . Did this meter jump ?
Thanks for any help

Do you have outside spigots that others can reach? Are you on a city water system or a private Utility Company? Any leak would have to be after the metere, where is the meter located and has any water line work been done in your area like company replacing or repairing a line. Remember, air and water both will move the meter.

The water is capped off where it comes out of the ground , and I only have one outside faucet . I bought this property in January and are remodeling so there is no plumbing in the house . I live a half mile away and check on things every day so I know the 1 outside faucet was not left on . The meter is 100 yards from the house but there is not any water standing anywhere . This is a rural water assn. with maybe 400 members . They did do some work on the main about 6 weeks ago . 3/4 of a mile from the property .
This meter was locked from January till I paid the deposit in September to have the meter unlocked . This was my third water bill .

Keep hammering away at the water company saying it's their meter that is making the error, you'd have a fairly good puddle with a half million gallons

Thanks for the input , I'm going to give them a few more days to come up with an explanation . So far all they have said is that I have a leak somewhere . Next week I will talk to the president of the assn . My next step then I guess would be the public service commissioner . I just hate to stir up a mess like that . This is a small rural community where everybody knows each other and I don't care to be the talk of the town .
But if they are talking about me , they letting some other poor soul rest for a while . Lol
Thanks

You might want to click on; https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/plumbing/analog-water-meter-malfunction-420795.html
And read the answers given there.
Same problem and yes! Water meters can go crazy. I had it happen to me. Good luck, tom