MSE News: Water bills to be added to credit reports

24

Comments

  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    edited 19 February 2013 at 8:52AM
    Buzby

    Customer agreement is obtained through a privacy notice at the outset of the relationship, which is an annual contract. The data sharing is not optional but required by the supplier in order to provide the service. We have worked with the regulators and consumer organisations to agree how this should be done for water accounts in a fair and consistent manner, so it is certainly compliant.

    James Jones

    Hi James,

    I can assure you I have not entered into such an agreement, so whilst your response may be valid for those firms whose business model architecture was crafted to need ID or access to information sold by your company and others (and where no 'credit' it supplied, required or relevant), Water Utilities are a different ball game.

    Can you advise which of E&W water utilities have in place these 'privacy notices' that explicitly permit personal data to be disclosed to third parties? Customers have every right - should they have been cavalier enough not to notice such a request - to terminate this agreement, and the DPA ensures that such processing must cease. It is not the case that such data useage is irrevocable.

    Therefore, if this is part of a 'grand plan' that is now only being made public, then the daa subject (consumer) needs to unpic his cosy arrangement so the done-deal element is redacted.

    As I noted earlier, Scottish Water is not party to your arrangement, and I doubt it ever will be. However my original question remains - what utility is going to risk refusal to provide a supply because the customer retains their right to keep their financial affairs private?
  • jamesd
    jamesd Posts: 26,103
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    James, what did your firm's discussions say about whether consumers had a meaningful choice about whether to accept such agreements or not? With a local monopoly how is there a meaningful option other than to accept the contract?
  • rb10
    rb10 Posts: 6,334 Forumite
    Will this cause a financial association between two people both named on the same water bill?
  • Kingchamp
    Kingchamp Posts: 1,155 Forumite
    This is bad news again, this is uneccessary. Whereby my rating shown is 999/1000 i still cant get the credit i want yet (best rates) if i miss one water payment the rating drop would be enormous. Lucky i dont pay the water bill the landlady does!
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    Buzby

    Customer agreement is obtained through a privacy notice at the outset of the relationship, which is an annual contract. The data sharing is not optional but required by the supplier in order to provide the service. We have worked with the regulators and consumer organisations to agree how this should be done for water accounts in a fair and consistent manner, so it is certainly compliant.

    James Jones

    Just a further point.

    Should not this procedure require an amendment to the Water Act?
  • Hi, I've never posted here before but have noticed a flaw in this policy change so glaring that I couldn't possibly not comment. I'm a customer of Yorkshire Water, I am billed quarterly and pay on receipt of my bill. I'm sat here now with said bill (for the third quarter of 2012/13) and, whilst it states the amount due and payment options, nowhere does it give a deadline for payment. How can you possibly pay your bill "on time" if no time frame is given???
  • Seems a bit draconian from the water companies.

    At least with Gas & Electricity, you can perhaps justify paying monthly in advance as you are probably getting a discount in the form of a better deal.

    With a water bill, you could pay in advance (monthly), get zero in the way of discounts and can never switch suppliers.

    So by signing up for monthly payments in advance for which you are receiving nothing in the way of discounts, if you suddenly stop paying, default notice issued, credit affected.

    I prefer paying on receipt of bill and in my opinion, no default notice should be issued if it relates to anything other than the 6 monthly bill.
  • Dunx69
    Dunx69 Posts: 183 Forumite
    esmediaz wrote: »
    Hi, I've never posted here before but have noticed a flaw in this policy change so glaring that I couldn't possibly not comment. I'm a customer of Yorkshire Water, I am billed quarterly and pay on receipt of my bill. I'm sat here now with said bill (for the third quarter of 2012/13) and, whilst it states the amount due and payment options, nowhere does it give a deadline for payment. How can you possibly pay your bill "on time" if no time frame is given???

    does it say your bill is due for payment now?
    All hail the Jack Daniels Swozzler!:beer:
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    esmediaz wrote: »
    Hi, I've never posted here before but have noticed a flaw in this policy change so glaring that I couldn't possibly not comment. I'm a customer of Yorkshire Water, I am billed quarterly and pay on receipt of my bill. I'm sat here now with said bill (for the third quarter of 2012/13) and, whilst it states the amount due and payment options, nowhere does it give a deadline for payment. How can you possibly pay your bill "on time" if no time frame is given???

    Your bill is due on presentation - no 'deadline' is stipulated so it then becomes reasonable to expect that one month after the bill has been prepared (unless a different timeframe is explicitly stipulated) then the bill becomes overdue. You appear to believe that a date for payment is required to make it enforceable - this is not the case.
  • tagq2
    tagq2 Posts: 382 Forumite
    Since a residential property cannot in law routinely have its water supply cut off, is there the option to refuse to renew your written contract, to continue to use water anyway, and when you are threatened with court, to just pay the amount owed anyway, outside of any written contract?

    In this way, you do not give consent for your details to be shared, but at the same time, you still pay for water.

    Privatisation of the water industry is one of the most embarrassingly stupid decisions Thatcher made. At least she handwaved a fallacious argument for all her other mistakes, but the water one had no justification other than pure greed.
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