Plant City’s leak request must be submitted for review before the affected utility bill’s due date. The City does not require its decision to be finished by that date. Our earlier guide confused those two events.
Attach the repair invoice or parts receipt. Without repair verification, the request cannot be processed. The City’s form asks when and where the leak was repaired, what happened, and the account, service-address and contact details.
A high total is not the same as 5,000 gallons above average
Plant City considers adjustments for consumption 5,000 gallons or more above average, while the customer remains responsible for average consumption. The Water Leaks page describes a monthly-average comparison and limits adjustments to two consecutive billing periods.
LSL’s examples below assume Utility Billing has accepted 4,000 gallons as the relevant average. That number is hypothetical, not a measured local average.
| Affected-period consumption | Subtract assumed average | Gallons above average | Numeric criterion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8,000 gallons | 8,000 − 4,000 | 4,000 | Below 5,000 |
| 9,000 gallons | 9,000 − 4,000 | 5,000 | Reaches 5,000 |
| 12,000 gallons | 12,000 − 4,000 | 8,000 | Exceeds 5,000 |
The middle case reaches the boundary exactly. None establishes an approved adjustment. Before applying this subtraction to a real bill, ask Billing which consumption average and billing periods it uses; the reviewed records do not give a complete averaging method.
Repair proof and the type of water use still matter
A City field representative checks whether the leak has stopped. The form says Customer Service will notify the customer if the meter still indicates leakage. Save your own copy of the repair proof and request; that is LSL’s recordkeeping suggestion, not another required form.
The form’s categories describe possible 50% water/sewer adjustments for indoor leaks, if billed, and 100% sewer/50% water treatment for reported irrigation-meter leaks. They do not mean half of every unusually high bill will be refunded. We have not established a private charge base or assumed that an irrigation account is billed sewer.
Intentional landscape irrigation, a running hose, pressure cleaning and undetermined use are excluded. A large water total does not turn one of those uses into a documented leak.
Ask Billing about the bill as well as the request
Use the current form linked by Utility Billing, or call 813-659-4222 if the route or due date is unclear. We have not tested its upload destination or submitted a customer file. An existing leak request is not an application to start new utility service.
For a useful account-specific answer, LSL suggests asking:
- Which average and affected billing periods will you use?
- Is any repair documentation missing?
- What must I pay by the due date while the request is considered?
The reviewed instructions do not say that filing suspends payment or guarantees a decision date. Obtain Billing’s answer instead of assuming the request changes the amount currently due.
LSL read the complete form and both City pages and reproduced the three subtraction cases on September 12, 2026. No customer bill, repair, field visit or credit decision was observed. The later same-intent leak-review article is consolidated into this guide; the original publication dates remain in the correction record.