Water Meter

leeegglestone · 20 October 2009 at 9:02PM

I live in a house on my own so not much water consumption, it certainly wont have increased since switched to a watermeter.

My DDebit used to be £13 a month before the Meter, so they kept it after I got the meter.My Yearly Account came couple of days ago and they want to increase it to £50 a month.

Something I did not know is that you cant revert back to unmetered, after the first year has passed. Why send me a yearly statement 2months after the first 12months is up. surely if i had got this earlier alarm bells would have rang and switched back.

Spoke to the water company they said definitely used lots of water and that should do a test to see if theres a leak. i know there is a tap outside which has a small leak but surely not to this excessive amount

Take Reading, switch the water off at the source, leave for an hour or so and take another reading. I did this and the reading hadnt moved.

Cant remember exactly what they said and if it means there is a leak somewhereor not or fault on the meter. Read smallprint on the website that if they come out to check a problem and the cant find one your billed £70. any advice?

Cardew · 20 October 2009 at 9:32PM

I believe you can now switch back to being charrged on the old RV system within 2 years

How much water have you used? A single person on average uses 60 cubic metres per year.

You must have had a very low Rateable Value to be only paying £13 a month - £156 pa. It is doubtful if any metered account would match that price.

leeegglestone · 20 October 2009 at 9:41PM

no idea how much I used, the meter says 1948.0 or maybe the decimal points diff, wasnt easy to see down there with it getting dark
They def said on phone couldnt switch as its only within the first 12months

deanos · 23 October 2009 at 9:14PM

Yes you can change after 2 years but this has only recently been brought in so i think you will be too late as yours was fitted before the change

http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/household/your-account/water-meters/choosing/switchback-guarantee/

Gothicfairy · 24 October 2009 at 6:50PM

Not all water companies give 2 years so it depends on who your supplier is.

Also I am confused about the yearly statement thing> Every metered account I have heard of has billed at least twice a year.
You Direct Debit statement might only arrive every year as it would be an 11 month plan but you should get paper bills in the mean time and that would show how much usage against how much you paid.
Also did you have a special payment plan because of difficulties ? As it is very low when most RV accounts are on 8 monthly installments.

bluewire · 25 October 2009 at 11:57PM

Gothicfairy wrote: »

As it is very low when most RV accounts are on 8 monthly installments.

This is not true for everywhere....The majority of suppliers allow you to pay over the full 12 months.

I would ask why they advised you/did not mention that you would never be any better off on a meter with a RV that only charged £13.

Write a letter of complaint and advise that you will take the matter to CCW as they may have mis-advised and then not ensured that you had the correct charges over the first 12 months.

deanos · 26 October 2009 at 7:15PM

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Not all water companies give 2 years so it depends on who your supplier is.

Also I am confused about the yearly statement thing> Every metered account I have heard of has billed at least twice a year.

.

Again depends on the water company, Anglian Water bill every 3 or 6 months depending on how you pay (cash 3 months, DD 6 months) when on a meter

Gothicfairy · 26 October 2009 at 7:31PM

deanos wrote: »

Again depends on the water company, Anglian Water bill every 3 or 6 months depending on how you pay (cash 3 months, DD 6 months) when on a meter

That is why I said "at least twice a year" as clearly the op was on a payment plan (so not cash in one go) so the bills would be twice a year.....However the payment plan is reset once a year and that produces a statement rather then a bill so that might be what they are talking about. Thus meaning they either did not read the bills or did not get them.

I am also not sure about the majority of supplier allowing 12 months as the outstanding years bill would need to be cleared before the new bill in April so that would really only give 11 at the most.
Also you don't know they were mis advised> The answer to a water meter is based on the customer going through some questions. There is nothing to lie about or mis sell. We don't know the op's RV..their payments might have been based on a special plan to cover debt.. As they have only told us the amount of payments rather then the amount of the bill there is not enough information to go on and suggesting a complaint at this stage seems premature.

bluewire · 27 October 2009 at 10:48PM

If you are with UU you can pay either over 10 or 12 months for your RV charges.

You can even have your payment set to the 31st of the month (30th and 28th for the other months) giving you the full 365/6 days to pay for your charges. Your new charges are added in the first week of April with your bill coming out for the new charges in mid April.

The OP does need to add more details.......

Fire_Fox · 28 October 2009 at 1:15AM

leeegglestone wrote: »

no idea how much I used, the meter says 1948.0 or maybe the decimal points diff, wasnt easy to see down there with it getting dark
They def said on phone couldnt switch as its only within the first 12months

Take a torch down and check the meter before you get all stressed! Also fix the dripping tap as small amounts of wastage add up over a year.

Water Meter

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