Error leads to $8,500 water bill

EUGENE, Ore., March 6 (UPI) -- Officials with an Oregon water utility said a man received an $8,500 bill due to a transcription error when tabulating his water use.

Ivan Polk said he moved out of his Eugene rental house recently and was shocked when his final bill from the Eugene Water and Electric Board amounted to $8,500, which he said was "a million gallons of water," KVAL-TV, Eugene, reported Wednesday.

The board's Joe Harwood said the bill was the result of a clerical mistake.

"What happened was essentially a transcription error that added up to an added extra digit to Mr. Polk's water use and hence when he opened his bill he had severe sticker shock," Harwood said. "We usually catch those, but in this case, which is fairly rare, we actually had one that slipped through."

Polk said he was pleased to find the $8,500 bill was sharply reduced to $150 once the mistake was corrected.