Texarkana attorney sues city, says new water meter sent bills soaring to $900 a month

TEXARKANA, Texas – A Texarkana attorney has sued the city of Texarkana, Texas, claiming a new digital water meter installed at his home produced monthly bills as high as $900, several times what he says he historically paid.

The lawsuit is the latest development in months of complaints from Texarkana Water Utilities customers who say their bills spiked after the utility began installing new meters.

Shawn M. Morgan filed the lawsuit Sept. 3 in Bowie County Court at Law against the city, which does business as Texarkana Water Utilities. Morgan, an attorney with the Texarkana firm Dunbar & Morgan LLP, is representing himself in the case.

According to the petition, Morgan’s water bills generally ran about $100 a month before the utility replaced his meter. During summer months, when he waters his lawn, his bills historically reached about $250, the filing states.

After the utility swapped the old meter for a new digital or ultrasonic model connected to its billing and Advanced Metering Infrastructure system, Morgan’s monthly bills jumped to between $600 and $900, according to the lawsuit.

The petition states nothing changed at the home that would explain the increase, including the number of people living there, his lawn watering habits or other household water use.

Morgan says he complained to the utility, which sent employees to inspect his property for a leak. The utility told him no leak was found, according to the filing. Morgan contends the utility nonetheless continued to bill him based on the new meter’s readings.

The lawsuit states Morgan sent multiple emails seeking an explanation and a resolution, and that those emails went unanswered.

What the lawsuit asks for

Morgan says in the filing that he does not dispute the city’s right to charge him for water he actually used. He disputes charges he says may stem from inaccurate meter readings, improper installation, incorrect programming, assignment of the wrong meter to his account, data errors in the metering system or other billing problems.

The petition says Morgan has paid the charges to keep his water service on. He is asking the court to order the city to refund money collected for water he did not use and to credit his account for any disputed charges that remain unpaid. He also brings an alternative claim for restitution, arguing the city holds money that in fairness belongs to him.

Morgan is seeking no more than $20,000, plus interest and court costs.

The lawsuit acknowledges the city may claim governmental immunity, a legal doctrine that shields Texas municipalities from many types of lawsuits. Morgan states he is not bringing a negligence claim under the Texas Tort Claims Act and is not seeking damages for personal injury or property damage. He says he may amend his claims if the city challenges the court’s jurisdiction.

The filing also asks the utility to preserve evidence related to the dispute, including readings and serial numbers from both the old and new meters, installation records, hourly and daily usage data, leak and malfunction alerts, programming information, billing calculations, internal communications and the replacement meter itself. If the utility removes the meter, Morgan asks that it not be reset, reprogrammed, refurbished or returned to inventory until the case is resolved.

Months of local complaints

Morgan’s complaint echoes what other residents told the Texarkana, Texas, City Council earlier this year.

At a packed council meeting, residents described bills that had doubled, tripled or topped $1,000, TXKtoday reported. Taylor Bradshaw told the council she had paid multiple plumbers who found no leaks, yet she continued to receive bills of $800 to $900 a month. David Grant said his problems started when a smart meter was installed at his home and that the utility’s data showed him using 400 gallons of water in a single hour around midnight.

City Manager David Orr told the council the city would put a citywide review of billing practices on a future agenda.

Johnson Controls is replacing the city’s water meters with ultrasonic units, which use sound waves to measure water flow. At a public forum in February, a TWU official said the new meters capture low levels of water use that older meters missed, which has contributed to higher bills.

Later that month, city and TWU officials acknowledged that a software compatibility problem had caused some customers to be overbilled and others underbilled. Officials maintained the meters themselves are working properly and are not the cause of the dramatic increases customers reported.

A frequently asked questions document posted on the city’s website says customers will see higher recorded usage because the new meters are more accurate.

What the research shows

Utility experts generally agree that older mechanical meters wear out and record less water than actually passes through them, so some increase is common after a meter is replaced.

American Water Works Association standards require new residential meters to register between 98.5% and 101.5% of actual water flow.

When New Orleans installed smart meters, residential customers saw bills rise about 10% on average, or roughly $12 a month, the Sewerage and Water Board said in 2024.

A peer-reviewed study published in 2025 tested ultrasonic meters from five brands and found they were generally accurate, though performance varied by brand and model and some showed discrepancies under more demanding test conditions.

The increases Morgan describes in his lawsuit are far larger than those typical figures.

Similar disputes nationwide

Texarkana is one of many communities where new metering or billing systems have drawn complaints.

In Billings, Montana, five residents filed a proposed class-action lawsuit this year claiming the city overbilled water customers after it switched to new billing software in 2024. The city has asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing state law required residents to present their claims to the City Council within one year.

In Jackson, Mississippi, the city sued Siemens over a water meter and billing system that overcharged many residential customers. Siemens settled in 2020 for $89.8 million.

The town of Davie, Florida, sued meter maker Mueller Water Products and Ferguson Enterprises in 2025, claiming more than $8 million in losses after about 3,000 of its 10,000 new meters failed.

This year, residents in Savannah, Georgia, and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, have also questioned the accuracy of newly installed smart meters. In August, the Jefferson Parish Council voted to hire a firm to study the parish’s water charges.

Next steps

In a letter to Bowie County District Clerk Lori Caraway, Morgan requested that citations be issued to Orr and to Texarkana Water Utilities Director Gary Smith.

The city of Texarkana, Texas, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.