Poland & Mahoning Valley - Several residents living in the Poland neighborhood noticed their water bills going up by hundreds of dollars in recent months even though they hadn't increased their water usage.

Renee Zuzan of Poland said she was shocked to find her mother's wastewater bill from Aqua Ohio was around $700 when it's normally around $23 dollars.

"It's saying on the bill itself she's using 55,000 gallons," Zuzan said, "That's excessive when the previous month she used 140."

The bill shows her water usage history indicating the sudden change and Zuzan said it's clear there's a mistake, but she's not the only one. Another Poland resident shows she was charged almost $600 when she normally pays under $40 a month.

It turns out, both residents and many others had new meters installed a month prior to the big bills.

Aqua Ohio said they installed 600 meters in the Valley in 2022 through their contractor Vanguard and 75 of them were installed improperly causing the price hike.

"At least one of the installers working for our contractor connected wires incorrectly when they replaced old meters with new ones earlier this year," Jeff La Rue with Aqua Ohio said, "The wires weren't connected in the right way and that was leading to a misread."

Aqua Ohio said they're sending their own crews to fix all meters and urge customers who notice a discrepancy or have concerns to call them at 877-987-2782.

"I want to assure all of our customers that no one is going to be responsible for paying for water they didn't use," La Rue said. 

21 News reached out to Vanguard for comment but did not hear back.