AFFINITY WATER -increase in annual bill 7.64%

HUMBUG · 7 March 2015 at 4:19PM

Hi All
After reading some articles here by Martin where it is suggested that water bills will decrease while some may increase, I didn't expect Affinity Water to hit me with a whopping 7.64% increase from 1st April 2015. I suspect this is to pay for new Thames Tideway Tunnel and their literature states that there will be further increases every year until 2020 (approx up to £34 before adding in any inflation impact). The increase for unmetered customers is 3.5% plus only 0.5% for metered which suggests that they are pressurising people to go metered .
Looks like there is a lot of contradictory statements being made in the water industry so don't know who to believe any more. Vincent Muldoon (Affinity- Director of Relations and Business Services) says " Bills will come down by 1% per year before inflation until 2020 for average water charges" . Seems to give an impression that our bills will go down but obviously he's worded that statement very carefully.
Might be time to get a water meter fitted although I'm quite worried about major leaks that might hit me with a massive bill. Can't trust any of these private utility firms , especially when they keep upping their salaries/bonuses by massive amounts. Seems like another long term rip-off for water customers.

Now here is a strange thing. I just visited my parents who have a 3 bedroomed House, with 2 reception rooms, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. They live in the centre of the same town where I also live about 0.5miles away. My father just received his bill from Affinity Water but his bill has gone up from £263 to £283 . Therefore I am paying £28 more than my parents house and I only have a 1 bedroom maisonnette!!!! I get the feeling that either the water companies have been overcharging me on the rateable value of my property. Or, that the Local Authorities have submitted the incorrect rateable value for my property sometime between 1973 and 1990. Ofwat say that you cannot appeal about the rateable value. Why is that?

J0sh_2 · 17 March 2015 at 12:39PM

Given that a lot of unmetered properties are in blocks of flats one could argue that hiking up the bills for unmetered customers disproportionately compared to metered customers is putting the burden mainly on the less well off?

My Affinity bill went up 7.81%. Unfortunately I cannot choose to be metered as in a block of flats.

matelodave · 17 March 2015 at 1:14PM

Being in a block of flats doesn't automatically preclude you from having a meter - have you tried applying for one?

If they decide that it can't be done then you can apply for an assessed charge which you might find can work out cheaper.

See here https://www.affinitywater.co.uk/apply-for-a-water-meter.aspx

J0sh_2 · 17 March 2015 at 2:37PM

Hi Matelodave -- I moved into this flat in 2007. Back in 2007 I called the water company to have the bill put into my name and they told me I must have a water meter, which I was OK with. They then contacted me shortly after saying I can't have a water meter.

My understanding is that this should have meant they needed to put me on assessed household charges automatically as it's a 2-bed flat and our bill was more than the assessed charges (for example: 2014-15 assessed charge would have been £304 while my bill was £448). However, they didn't and I didn't chase them for it because I didn't find out about assessed charges until now.

I called the water company today and they said they will send someone round towards end of April to see whether I can have a water meter.

They were pretty cagey about whether I was due a refund regarding the 7 years of not having been on assessed charges. She even said it was only done in case the customer applied for a meter but was told it wasn't possible. But then, there was no reason for me to apply for it as right from the start I was already told a meter wasn't possible....

Anyway, she said they will "look into" the issue of last 7 years...

silvercar · 31 March 2015 at 8:24AM

Please do report back. We have the same supplier and were meant to move to a metered supply when we moved home in 2006 (compulsary metering area). In the end they wrote to us out of the blue, 4 months after moving in, to say they weren't going to fit a meter and were billing us on RV. Since then I have found out that the problem is that there is no stopc@ck in the road (unbelievable I know).

I have now applied for a meter, will wait to see if they manage to fit, but if not, then I will see if they will consider their attempt to fit in 2006 as a valid claim to backdate to an assessed charge.

J0sh_2 · 17 April 2015 at 11:29AM

Hi Silvercar, a day after the Consumer Council for Water got involved Affinity told me that as a gesture of "goodwill" they would refund me for each of the 8 years of overpaying since 2007. I received the cheque and the money is in the bank, so success!

See also this thread which has more of a potted history of my particular case: "MSE News: Water bills to fall 2% over the next year in England and Wales" (can't post a link to the thread as new user, sorry)

Cardew · 17 April 2015 at 11:45PM

J0sh wrote: »

See also this thread which has more of a potted history of my particular case: "MSE News: Water bills to fall 2% over the next year in England and Wales" (can't post a link to the thread as new user, sorry)

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5167802

silvercar · 8 May 2015 at 2:40PM

Reporting back. Affinity tried to fit a meter today and failed. Stop c@ck within the house is not accessible enough to fit and it would not be easy for a plumber (the guy said) to arrange enough pipework to put a meter internally.

Again he looked outside, tracked down the property records from 1937 and this time reckoned it was worth an attempt to dig up the pavement to try and locate the water pipe. So he is going to order for that to be done - within 20 working days apparently.

If they can't locate then I will be eligible for an assessed metering charge. If they can locate they will fit at the boundary of the property.

Either way I'm going to try and claim for an assessed charge from 2006 to now. But will wait to see if they manage to fit a meter first.

matelodave · 8 May 2015 at 3:10PM

Did you request a meter in 2006 - I suspect that if you didn't actually make a formal reqest for one and just hoped or expected that they'd fit one then you won't get very far with a claim.

I'd be interested in the outcome

silvercar · 8 May 2015 at 4:51PM

matelodave wrote: »

Did you request a meter in 2006 - I suspect that if you didn't actually make a formal reqest for one and just hoped or expected that they'd fit one then you won't get very far with a claim.

I'd be interested in the outcome

They wrote to us when we moved in to tell us we were in a compulsory metering area and they would fit a meter. They then wrote to us months later saying they no longer intended fitting a meter; they didn't explain why.

There was no opportunity to request a meter as they told me they were going to fit one.

silvercar · 23 May 2015 at 9:48PM

silvercar wrote: »

Reporting back. Affinity tried to fit a meter today and failed. Stop c@ck within the house is not accessible enough to fit and it would not be easy for a plumber (the guy said) to arrange enough pipework to put a meter internally.

Again he looked outside, tracked down the property records from 1937 and this time reckoned it was worth an attempt to dig up the pavement to try and locate the water pipe. So he is going to order for that to be done - within 20 working days apparently.

If they can't locate then I will be eligible for an assessed metering charge. If they can locate they will fit at the boundary of the property.

Either way I'm going to try and claim for an assessed charge from 2006 to now. But will wait to see if they manage to fit a meter first.

Reporting back:

Got home from work in the week to find that the water board have done some work on the driveway. We now have a square metal box with "water" on it. About 1 metre in from the boundary of my property. We have block paving on the driveway and they have done a neat job of relaying the bricks, but I am disappointed that they didn't put it on the pavement beyond my boundary, rather than messing with my brickwork.

I assume that under this cover will be the stop c@ck and they will now fit a meter, but haven't yet investigated it.

AFFINITY WATER -increase in annual bill 7.64%

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