Guides in the Water Leak category — explained in plain English.
Standing water in your meter box is usually rain — but it can be a leak on either side of the meter. A 2-minute decision tree: rain or rising, indicator spinning or still, utility or plumber.
You fixed the leak — now the $400 bill. Most utilities will credit part of it if you ask correctly: the policy terms, the math they use, the evidence to attach, and a fill-in-the-blanks request letter.
The standard rule: leaks before the meter are the utility's, leaks after it are yours. How to locate the boundary, document the evidence, and escalate when the utility says "not ours."