they're going up. reporter david louie went to find out why. >> reporter: well, dan, across the bay area water usage really went down. people were really conserving and pitching in. in some cases the water use went down as much as 30% or very close to 30%. and because of that, san jose water is asking state regulators to approve a one-year-long surcharge to make up for that. >> conservation was great but it comes with a cost. that's exactly right. >> reporter: san jose water is very frank about it as is 220,000 households rr 1 million customers cut back water use during the drought leaving them short. they are asking the utilities commission to let them add a surcharge to raise the average bill about $2.19 per month. the customer isn't happy. >> i'm being punished for doing the right thing. >> reporter: she's already paying about $131 in service charges previously authorized by state regulators and $40 for water use every two months. then there's the new proposed