<prompt> Human: My husband and I are renting an apartment in a big apartment complex. The water is billed with the sewage and paid together with the rent. They have a company that does the readings and issues the bills. We have been on a month-long vacation and the apartment was empty. Recently, we received the bill and the cycle is exactly for the period we have been out of the country. Surprisingly, the bill is the highest we have ever had! The reading apparently says that our apartment used 2,300 gallons of water during the time we were gone. As a reference, the meter readings from months we were home and actually using the water is anywhere from 500 to 1,200 gallons. So, the water consumption for the month we were away is more than double.I checked the lease again and it clearly says that each unit pays for utilities used, not for community usage. We have been here for over a year and never questioned the water bill because it seemed reasonable. We dont use the dishwasher, only do laundry once a week and there is just 2 people living in the apartment. EDIT: our toilet does not leak, the faucets are perfectly fine. There is nothing else that uses water. I contacted the leasing office for explanations and to ask them to check if maybe there is a leak or meter issue. However, if they wont help, what are our options? How could we use 2,300 gallons of water while we werent even in the country?  <response>: Ive used property management software before and the utilities portion usually requires a person to read the meter and record the number on the meter. That number is added into software and the difference between this month and last month is used to calculate your usage. If their software is anything like the one I used they should be able to look at your meter now, compare it to what they have on record from the previous meter reading. Dollars to donuts someone goofed while inputting the values from the meter into their system and they can correct the error in their billing system. 