I live in Hunters Trace sub where Marion Utilities is the only game in town (called a monopoly i believe...illegal). When my late mother lived here, alone, her water bill began to get very high..she even wrote to the company about it but nothing was done..just essentially Pay and Shut Up..When I inherited the house in 2014, I also noticed a high bill despite the fact I own another house down the street where I have a well and I use the water at that house since its free..and to this date still havent moved into the H. Trace house and still use my free well water. I finally had them check the meter since I personally knew others here at H.Trace who had similar issues and some who despite filling their pools and watering their yards, had NO water bills. Since the water meter was replaced, my bill is now just the minimum as would be expected for a house Im not living in..(occasional toilet flush and filling cats water dishes)..Did Marion Utilities give me any credit for the 4 yrs of overcharge? NOPE...Not only that, but theyre trying to make me pay a $5 late fee on my $10 water bill (thats a 50% penalty..usary..illegal)...when I didnt get the Oct bill till Oct 25th. They have us all "bent over" here and appear to be able to do whatever they want or else they turn off your water and charge an enormous fee to turn it back on. Im planning to write to all H. Trace residents to have them check their meters too...Ive also looked into contacting the govt powers that be to inquire what, if any, regulations these private water systems have. Im DISGUSTED that through no fault of mine or my late mothers, we have HUGELY OVERPAID for many years, gotten NO CONSIDERATION from marion utilities and now Im being extorted 5 bucks from them. Does anyone know who to contact regarding what appears to be "mafia type" shakedowns? At some point, Id like to rent out my other house and move into H.Trace, but the prospect of supporting this hinky appearing water company makes me nauseous read more

It's really disheartening to know that you are stuck with a service you are unhappy with. The story begins when I arrived home from work and noticed that there was a large pool of water in my yard. At first I thought it might be the septic but because it was clean I knew I was leaking water. I immediately called Marion Utilities Inc. and they told me an engineer would contact me soon. When I spoke to him on the phone he told me that from the sound of the location that is was most likely on their side and not to worry about it. The next day he arrived and spent a good while trying to figure out the problem. He eventually figured out the source and came to the conclusion that it was after the meter but I was told not to worry about it because they are taking responsibility for it and so I would only be charged my "average" monthly usage. Before leaving they recommended a plumbing company that would help and are reliable. I called them immediately and they told me because it was late in the afternoon that they would come first thing in the morning. I didn't worry about shutting the water off because I was told I'd be only charged my monthly average. The plumbing company was very prompt and fixed the problem in no time; the company was Ellzey plumbing I highly recommend them. This morning I stopped by Marion Utilities Inc because I haven't been receiving my bills in the mail. When I got there I found out that they didn't credit anything on my account and that I owed a lot of money. I told the lady what I was told; one of the man that was at my house didn't even remember me so how can he remember anything they promised me. Today they told me they would credit only 24 hours and that was it, "and that is being generous," he said, However that is not what I was told; I was told "my average monthly usage." I know you cannot choose your utilities provider so all I can recommend is, do not take them by their word. Make sure that everything is shut off and that you get a professional to fix the problem and then if it's Marion Utilities' responsibility present them with the bill. I was really disappointed to find out I was misled and lied to. The only thing they did right was recommend and good plumbing service. read more