Water meter denied - now what?

worbikeman

I live in a leasehold flat in a high rise block and have been denied a water meter because where the supply enters my property between communal pipe and wall there is no room to install a meter. I have examined it and they could have a point.
However, as a single person currently on benefits, I find the £21.25 PCM standard basic charge rather exhorbitant for the amount I use. If metered, I reckon my bill would be at least half that amount. When I was a tenant paying rent here a couple of years ago, the water bill was £5-6 PCM included as part of the rent. I can't switch water supplier like telephone or electric, so what is the answer?

deanos

If they cant fit a meter you should be put on an assesed rate, ring back the water co. and explain, im supprised the technician didnt explain that when he came round

Degenerate

worbikeman wrote: »

When I was a tenant paying rent here a couple of years ago, the water bill was £5-6 PCM included as part of the rent.

Just clarifying the situation: Do you mean you were a tenant in the same property? Is this a council right-to buy?

worbikeman

Degenerate wrote: »

Just clarifying the situation: Do you mean you were a tenant in the same property? Is this a council right-to buy?

That's correct, I have lived here nearly ten years, bought it as a RTB 2 yrs ago.

bluewire

What water company do you pay?
United Utilities is introducing a single occupior tariff for people who can not have a meter installed like yourself

Degenerate

worbikeman wrote: »

That's correct, I have lived here nearly ten years, bought it as a RTB 2 yrs ago.

You shouldn't be paying the water company at all. The Council pay for a metered bulk supply for the building, which they then recover from the residents as part of the rent. As a leaseholder, you should be paying the council the same £5-6PCM as the other residents, included in your service charge for building maintenance etc.

bluewire

Are you sure that your old charges are correct??? £5 per month is just £60 per year (Lower than the standing charges of most companies) however £5 per week is £260 per year (£21.25 per month = £255 per year).

Check your figures.

If they are correct I would check with your water company and council.

Ask how it has been billed previously (when it was council)

If the flats have been sold off (RTB) it is unlikely that they would be fed off a bulk meter that is then split by the council. The council/water company may have made changes when they started to sell the flats which may have not bee fully passed on in your bill. They would have ensured that each flat had a RV and the council would have been billed on this.



Hope this helps:beer:

Degenerate

bluewire wrote: »

If the flats have been sold off (RTB) it is unlikely that they would be fed off a bulk meter that is then split by the council. The council/water company may have made changes when they started to sell the flats which may have not bee fully passed on in your bill. They would have ensured that each flat had a RV and the council would have been billed on this.

I have to disagree in the case of a tower block. It is effectively a private water network inside the building, with it's own pumping system and storage tanks. If a water company bills the individual flats, it becomes responsible for delivering service to those individual flats, via someone else's infrastructure. This could result in situations where, for example, customers could claim CGS payments because the council's pump in the basement failed - "What do you mean, take it up with the council? My contract is with you, Mr Water Company, to supply water all the way to my flat." A sensible water company would bill the council and wash it's hands of what happens beyond the property line.

More to the point, if what you're saying was correct, the council would have no business being the middle man between the water company and rental tenants either - everyone should have had their own individual bills. Changing from rental to leasehold does not change the billing basis at all. You're still a tenant of the council, receiving water supply via the council's infrastructure between your flat and the water company's mains.