About 300 residents in the City of Hidalgo are seeing their water bills nearly double. City officials say old meters are to blame.

Jose Luis Chavez Jr. got his March bill from the city's utility department. It combines water, sewer, brush and garbage costs.

"In the last month I was billed $132," Chavez said. “For the last seven years I have paid almost $63 a month every month." 

Chavez took to social media to ask if others were also seeing the change.

Several community members sent Chavez their bills. Channel 5 News looked over several March and April statements that showed bills that nearly doubled.

"We don't mind paying our own fair share; paying the water bill is not the issue. The issue is, are we getting billed the right amount?" Chavez said.

Hidalgo City Manager Julian Gonzalez says about 300 residents are seeing a change in their bill due to the old meters.

"This is not a water rate increase," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the latest annual water report showed there was water that was unaccounted for. 

"I can't tell you exactly what the water loss was; it comes in the category of unaccounted-for water," Gonzalez said.

He says the city then checked several meters where they found issues.

"So when we checked the meter, we found out that it's been misread; it’s either malfunctioning, it's an old meter, or there is something wrong with the system itself in the billing process," Gonzalez said.

The bills people are receiving are accurate, according to Gonzalez. The city is now working to replace the affected meters.

"Once they put in a new meter, it will indicate the new reading that was supposed to be done from I don't know how long ago," Gonzalez said.

He's encouraging anyone with questions to reach out to city hall.

"Normally when there is any type of change, we will notify residents within the billing system, and we are going to be doing that," Gonzalez said.