A woman hit with a £16 water bill has said her provide must think she's "operating a waterpark in the back garden" as they doubled down on the charges.
Claire Fitzpatrick, from Bridgend, Wales, said her bill had "suddenly and unexplainably shot up" into four figures in the summer.
And Wales Online reported that the 47-year-old cosmetic product developer added that when she went to check her meter, the numbers were "spinning at 100 miles an hour."
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A spokesperson for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water said that because the leak isn't on their pipework, but on the private property, the huge bill needs to be paid.
Claire was told that her "driveway would probably have to be dug up" after an engineer failed to find a leak elsewhere.
This followed Claire finding out that heroutstanding balance was £3,823.27.
The mum-of-two added that when she came back from holiday in August she found a huge hole had appeared in the ground outside her property.
"They still couldn't find the leak though and were given instructions in blue spray paint nearby to 'dig deeper'," said Claire.
"So again they dug and again they couldn't find anything. And they were back again earlier this week for a third attempt."
In the meantime, Claire was "stunned" to be hit with a six monthly bill for a whopping £15,833.11.
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"I was gobsmacked – they must think I'm operating a waterpark in the back garden.
"Welsh Water have also said that, if they fail to find the leak, I'll have to pay to hire a private contractor to locate it. Until then my account apparently been frozen until a decision is made on what the next step should be.
"There's even been talk about a payment plan. I thought, You must be joking – there's no way I can afford to pay back nearly £16k."
The water company said "as a gesture of goodwill tried to assist on a few occasions."
A statement added: "We are continuing to liaise with the customer in advising them on the steps they need to take to resolve the matter. We are sorry if the bill has caused alarm but we have explained to the customer that, in the event of internal leaks, we will apply an allowance to the customer’s account once the repair has been completed.
"We will continue to liaise with the customer on this."
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