Water bills cost cutting article

Cardew

karlk wrote: »

Hi All

Personally, the meter thing didn't work out for my wife and I as it increased our bills no end - especially as the sub-contractor had connected our meter to several neighbours houses resulting in us paying for their water consumption too!!

After several letters, calls, etc., we resolved this issue. Never again though!

On a different note - I have just read an article on the homepage of the National Pure Water Association:

http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/

It basically states that people whom object to fluoridation in their water supply who have to but filters, etc., can 'deduct' these expenses from their bills in the form of non-payment to cover the costs of the inconvenience to themselves:

"For those living in fluoridated areas and punters who just don't want to pay their water bills, it seems almost too good to be true. During the past several weeks, NPWA HQ has received calls from perplexed fluoridation objectors throughout England. When they contacted their water company and stated that they would deduct monies for bottled water/water filters if their water was fluoridated, they were told that the water companies didn't care, because the Department of Health would pay their water bill."

Has anyone else heard of this? Has anyone tried it? This would definitely reduce my water bills per se.

Thanks

Karl

I don't think that is correct. There was a thread on this some while ago.

Someone tried it and failed.

zannaleejandj

My mother lives alone in a one bedroomed flat. When my father was alive, they converted to a water meter, and saved money. But then they moved, and rented the flat out to tenants who didn't want to be on a meter, therefore got the water company to take it off!! Now my mum is back in that same flat and is wondering could she be put back on to a meter, and will the water company now charge for this - because it'll be the second time around?!!
If anyone knows an answer to this, I will be very grateful. Thanx

deanos

Depending on who supplies your water the meter may still be in situ as they are not removed so it will just be a case of ringing up and asking to go back on a meter , if there is no meter then i suspect the water co. will charge which i think is only fair IMO

busabus

Just a word of advice - always check your bills!

I moved into Three Valleys Water just over 2 years ago and they *demanded* that I have a water meter fitted - ok. So I started paying for their estimated charges, even paid £20 off the previous owner's bill (silly me), then one day I got a whopping bill through for almost 300 quid! 2 people - flat - 6 months - nope!! I explained it to them on the phone and they said they'd sort it out, this was March 2006.

What appears to have happened is when they first came to install the meter, they walked down the road, picked a box at random and wrote down the number. It then took them a year to find that box surprisingly.

After I complained another engineer came out and found my supply by trial and error, there was no meter.

Another engineer came out and fitted a meter.

Three Valleys didn't register that meter. I complained.

Another engineer came out to install a meter(?!), told Three Valleys he couldn't and there wasn't one there.

I lost interest.

I've had debt collector threats, loads of phones calls, letters and bills, and now total due is standing at £700, on top of the £200 I've already paid.

Apparently another engineer is coming next week... mmm hmmm.

However looking at the (invisible non existant) meter, our usage is around half the rateable value. So if/when this ever gets sorted I should have saved over £100 a year.

greynomad

Martin,

First, a big thank you for your tip on cutting Council Tax charges. I had my valuation reviewed and have been awarded a refund of £2,200.

Do you know if I can now apply for a rebate on my water charges? I am with South East Water. If you do not have a meter, they base their bills on the rateable value of the property. Since I have now been switched from band G to band F, can I apply to have my water charges reduced and apply for a refund?

Thank you.

Cardew

greynomad wrote: »

Martin,

First, a big thank you for your tip on cutting Council Tax charges. I had my valuation reviewed and have been awarded a refund of £2,200.

Do you know if I can now apply for a rebate on my water charges? I am with South East Water. If you do not have a meter, they base their bills on the rateable value of the property. Since I have now been switched from band G to band F, can I apply to have my water charges reduced and apply for a refund?

Thank you.

If you do a search there are a number of threads on this - and the answer is negative:

"Council Tax banding has no connection to Rateable Value(RV). Your house could be in Band A or Band H and your unmetered water charges would remain the same.

The water companies had(and have) absolutely no influence on the RV of your property.

The RV of a property(which you can find on your Water Bill) was last fixed for the majority of houses in 1973 and the RV system finished in 1990. - obviously if your property was built between 1973 and 1990 the RV was fixed then.

The value of the RV was based on the notional rental value that your property could command and not the value. It tended to give older properties a much lower RV than newer properties. For instance it could allocate a low RV to a huge old unmodernised mansion with several acres of grounds, because nobody would want to rent it; yet give a modern 3 bed estate semi a higher RV. The mansion could now be Band H and the semi Band B for council tax purposes, but the semi would still have higher unmeasured water charges."

jpg59ltd

If you apply to get a meter fitted and it can't be achieved because the BT box in the pavement is too close and the stop !!!! in the Kitchen is surrounded by Kitchen Units then they will reward you by putting you on the average water charge which saved me £120 per annum.

geoffreyq

I'm amazed that people actually save by having a meter fitted. As a family of two with a Thames meter, we pay about £450 per year - almost the same as with the rates. We always shower and could not easily cut our water consumption.
A neighbour had a meter fitted and got a first bill for £1000! It seems that she had a leak between the meter and the house. With the meter she had to pay. On the old system, according to Thames, she would not have had a penny to pay.
Third point - local estate agents say buyers prefer houses NOT to be metered. Large families avoid meters like the plague!
I really wish I had never heard of metering!

melbury

geoffreyq wrote: »

I'm amazed that people actually save by having a meter fitted. As a family of two with a Thames meter, we pay about £450 per year - almost the same as with the rates. We always shower and could not easily cut our water consumption.
A neighbour had a meter fitted and got a first bill for £1000! It seems that she had a leak between the meter and the house. With the meter she had to pay. On the old system, according to Thames, she would not have had a penny to pay.
Third point - local estate agents say buyers prefer houses NOT to be metered. Large families avoid meters like the plague!
I really wish I had never heard of metering!

Maybe, but it is fairer overall to pay for what you use - just like gas and electricity!! A meter gives you far more incentive to save water, believe me I know!

Pollycat

Hi
Can anyone advise on this, please?

My elderly parents live in Council warden-controlled housing (a 2 bedroom flat in a block of 4).

They do not have a water meter and are paying 63% more per annum than I do for a 4 bedroom house with a water meter fitted.
The water authority is the same - Severn Trent.

Their bills have risen over 15% from 2006/07 to 2007/08.

This seems like daylight robbery to me.

What are our options to reduce their bills?

Thanks
Polly