Sharon Kus said her mother, Martha, was charged $215 a month for eight months and visited Tulsa City Hall three times seeking an explanation for the unchanged bills, according to KTUL.

Martha visited Tulsa City Hall three times before anyone explained why, Kus told KTUL in a report published Tuesday, Nov. 10. On the third visit, a city employee told Martha her water meter had been broken since around March.

"We have not been communicated with. We have not been notified," Kus said.

The Kus family is not alone. The City of Tulsa announced Oct. 6 that contractor Meter Works would begin replacing more than 600 residential and small commercial water meters because of a manufacturer defect, according to a city press release. Those 600-plus meters are part of a larger batch of approximately 9,200 Neptune ultrasonic meters recently installed at Tulsa properties. The city said in its Oct. 6 announcement that all 9,200 will be replaced later this year because of defects in the manufacturing.

The manufacturer is covering the full cost of replacement parts and labor. Tulsa residents and the city will pay nothing for the swap, according to the press release.

Estimated bills raise questions

The city said affected customers have been placed on estimated billing that uses historical water usage to generate their charges. The city called it the same method used when manual reads are unavailable at addresses that do not yet have an automated meter.

Kus questioned whether that historical data was trustworthy. If the defective meters generated the usage history, she wondered, the estimates could be built on bad numbers.

"How many people has this been happening to and do they realize? Keep an eye on your water bill," Kus said.

Sharon's husband, Jimmi Kus, spoke with the city and said he learned the family's meter had not been working since March 2026. As of KTUL's Nov. 10 report, the family's meter still had not been replaced. The family said they want to know whether the city will reimburse customers for previous billing cycles.

Neither the city's press release nor KTUL's report included a response from a named city official on whether billing adjustments or refunds are planned.

Part of a larger upgrade

The defective Neptune meters were installed under Tulsa's True Reads program, a multi-year effort launched in 2024 to replace more than 145,000 aging residential water meters with automated systems, according to the city's True Reads page. The program also aims to identify remaining lead service lines to meet federal environmental standards. Meter installations began in spring 2023, and the full project is estimated to take three to four years.

Residents with questions can contact the City of Tulsa Water Department by emailing [email protected] or calling 311.