Help: broken water meter?

I am in desperate need of help!! my water bill has been close to $200 for two months when it has historically been close to $50. I suspected a leak and had a plumber come out. After replacing the isolation valve inside the house and turning it off, the flow indicator on the water meter continued moving. The plumber suspected it was the pipe from the meter to my home. the area surrounding the meter is not soft or anything but there is a huge tree that could be soaking up the water. After digging up the pipe outside, the plumber informed me there was no leak.

What could possibly be causing the flow indicator to still move?! is it possible that the meter is broken? My hoa stated that if they sent someone from the county to check the meter, I would be charged so I want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I go that route.

Any help would be be much appreciated!!

Meters sometimes fail to indicate when water is being used, but I've not heard of an indication where one was moving when there wasn't water being used.

You need to follow the pipe and see where that is happening. If you pipe runs underneath your slab, it could be there, and no wet area may show...depends on how porous your ground is.

Spring said:

After digging up the pipe outside, the plumber informed me there was no leak.

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The plumber dug up the entire length of the pipe between the meter and your house?

Yes, he said that he did. I wasn't home while he was inspecting the pipe so I don't know how thorough he was but considering there was a job for him if he found a leak, I would suspect he looked carefully. I'm just baffled, should I get a second plumber to check?

You should shut off the main stop valve inside the house then look at the flow meter. If it shows any flow then the pipe between the meter and the house is leaking. if there is no leak then open the main stop valve and close all fixtures stop valves providing that you have one on every fixture. if you have no flow now then one or more of the fixture is leaking water through it . my guess is that a toilet or two is running one. Using this method you can rule out certain areas and pin point where the leak is. It is not rocket science

There should be no problem checking for a trench from the meter to the house, if he actually dug the entire line up, (which to me would be a "fool's errand"). You have a leak and if the plumber does not know how to locate it or cannot find it, call a leak locating specialist, (not a plumber with a stethoscope), who will have several different means of locating the leak.

If you cut off the water with the valve at the meter, expect the meter to indicate no flow. There are wrenches available to control that valve. I assume that your plumber shut that valve off before changing out the main valve for the house. I presume the meter did not indicate flow at that time.

My best guess is that either there is a branch in the pipe before the valve you had replaced, or the water line has a leak. Too bad the plumber did not replace the water line while he had the old water line dug up. Or maybe he did not dig up the line... but then how did he inspect for a leak? You might check for a local leak detection service to see if they have the technology that can track down your leak. At $150 extra per month, you need a solution soon.

Not a pro.