The most common reason for high water bills is leaks in the house or irrigation systems.The first thing to try, is going around and checking toilets and sinks for leaks or drips. It might not seem like a lot of water, but if it drips all day it can really add up. Irrigation is harder to find leaks, with the lines being underground, but you can try shutting off the water to the outside when you are not using it and seeing if your usage goes back to normal again, if it does there could be a leak underground.
Second, have a look at your humidifiers or water softeners. Make sure they are not running too much or discharging too much water.
The next thing to try is keeping an eye on your usage day to day or week to week and see if there are any unexplained spikes.
Meters are very unlikely to be the cause. Older meters used mechanical components to gauge water usage. They would fail over time, but would read slower than normal, not faster. Newer meters use a magnetic sensor that only measures water passing through. If you would like to test to see if the meter itself is faulty, there should be a valve shortly after your meter controlling all water going into your house. Shut this off and if the meter continues to rise it could be a faulty meter. With a $200 deposit we can switch your meter out with another and send the old meter out for testing. If the tests come back as meter error, you get your deposit back and we will either install a brand new meter or you can keep the meter we replaced it with, and we will look at adjusting your previous billings with a more accurate number. If the test comes back acceptable the deposit is retained, the meter is put back and the previous invoices remain on the account. At this point it will be on the homeowner to hire a plumber to further investigate the water usage, as the meter error is not the cause.