Water - Am i being ripped off

Iceman79

I am paying £32 a month for my water and i live in a very small 1 bed flat with a shower 2 hot and 2 cold taps and 1 small washing machine.
Recently a conversation came up in work about water bills and the other person said that his bill was £32 a month and he lives in a 4 bed house with 2 bathrooms and lots of other things.

Is this fair and am i being ripped off.

Regards.

Nicholas

Iceman79 wrote:

I am paying £32 a month for my water and i live in a very small 1 bed flat with a shower 2 hot and 2 cold taps and 1 small washing machine.
Recently a conversation came up in work about water bills and the other person said that his bill was £32 a month and he lives in a 4 bed house with 2 bathrooms and lots of other things.

Is this fair and am i being ripped off.

Regards.

Are you on a meter?

Iceman79

Hi thanks for your reply.

No we are in a rented property and there are 4 flats being supplied by the same water mains so no meter.

Nicholas

Yes, that does seem a little on the excessive side. I take it that you are paying the water bill direct to the landlord? If that is the case, perhaps you could ring up the water company and ask them what the rateable charges are for the flat you are renting.

As for your work colleague, it sounds like he is on a meter.

Iceman79

No i pay my bill via payment book direct to Anglian water.
I thought i would ask here as im no good on the phone and they would only palm me off with something daft.

Im not sure if he is on a water meter but i will have to find out.

Thanks for your help

Regards

Cardew

What is your Rateable Value?(it can be found on your water bill)

What charges are on the bill?

There should be a charge for water £? X the rateable value

A charge for sewerage £? X the rateable value

Possibly a standing charge?

penrhyn

Hi,
This will not be of any comfort but I am a single dweller in a 3 bed house and pay around £7.00 per month for metered water. We dont pay for rainwater drainage(soakaways) so its slightly lower than it would otherwise be.
Would it be possible for you to have a meter fitted (with your landlords permission)? I you have your own stopcock (sorry non pc) it should be feasable.
Might be worth finding out if the other flats are paying a similar amount.

donnalou

£7 a month thats so good I pay £15 a month with no sewage costs I thought that was cheap.
I used to be with Thames water without a meter and payed £30 a month.
So £32 doesn't seem too expensive to me, Although Anglian water are one of the most expensive water companies.

pixie1

The rateable value was based on what youre property was worth in 1990 prior to council tax been brought in. Was the property you live in one dwelling at that point and has since been converted into flats?

You could ask your local water company to check this out for you, give them all the flat numbers in the 'house'.

The other option is a water meter where you can pay for purely what you use. People in rented accom can have these installed with the ok from your landlord.

Ken68

That soundsa lot Iceman....that is my annual bill....(use a lot of rainwater).
Does anyone know if I could get a soakaway reduction when on Anglian Solow rate.

elisebutt65

When I lived in a converted flat in Portsmouth my wter bills were about this much - 10 years ago and it turned out that each of the 5 flats were being charged for the rateable value of the garage tht used to be there - so the water company was getting the old water rates x 5!!!

If you don't get any jopy from the wter company then you can turn to OFWAT(I think that's it?). I got a massive refund from the water company and I think all the other flat owners did as well - well peed off that they were taking the mick like that!!

I currently pay £17/month for a 3 bed house without a meter.