Water Bills questions and comment

jack53

I've just been advised by Anglian Water that my monthly direct debit as of May will be £38 per month, going up from £22.

I live in a 1-bed flat that does not have a bath, only a shower. I work full time and I'm the only occupant of the flat.

I challenged Anglian Water who had previously tried to raise my direct debit from £19 to £38 in one jump, and they said my previous monthly payment wasn't enough so they'd upped it to £38 to cover the shortfall. They didn't quite get what I was trying to say is that £38 a month for a 1 bed bathless flat seemed quite a lot. I've canvassed friends and family who all live in 3 bed houses, with 3/4 occupants and nobody is paying as much as I am.

I'm wondering if Anglian Water has got the meters mixed up. Is there any way I can find out which meter belongs to my flat.

The people in the flat upstairs seem to have their washing machine going 24/7, and I'm sure I'm paying their water bill instead of mine.

J

Cardew

jack53 wrote: »

I've just been advised by Anglian Water that my monthly direct debit as of May will be £38 per month, going up from £22.

I live in a 1-bed flat that does not have a bath, only a shower. I work full time and I'm the only occupant of the flat.

I challenged Anglian Water who had previously tried to raise my direct debit from £19 to £38 in one jump, and they said my previous monthly payment wasn't enough so they'd upped it to £38 to cover the shortfall. They didn't quite get what I was trying to say is that £38 a month for a 1 bed bathless flat seemed quite a lot. I've canvassed friends and family who all live in 3 bed houses, with 3/4 occupants and nobody is paying as much as I am.

I'm wondering if Anglian Water has got the meters mixed up. Is there any way I can find out which meter belongs to my flat.

The people in the flat upstairs seem to have their washing machine going 24/7, and I'm sure I'm paying their water bill instead of mine.

J

£38 monthly is far too much for a metered supply for one person with Anglian.

The average consumption should be around 60 cubic metres per year. Look at your bills to see what you use.

One possibility is a leak - but where is the water going?

The most obvious reason will be that either your meters are mixed up with a neighbour's meter.

OR

That there is only one meter for the block and you are paying for the other(s) flat.

That situation is not uncommon in flat conversions.

It is very easy to detect for a leak/meter mix up by accurately reading your meter(including the last 3 fractional digits) before a period when you will not be using any water, and again afterwards.

jonny-boy

Can anyone offer me some advice ?

I am supplied by South-East Water and have a water meter. Looking back at my bills for the last 3 years (that's about all I have) the quantity of water used, and thus the price, has been consistent. Almost to within a few cubic metres.

Imagine my surprise, then, when the latest bill should arrive and it is astronomical. Thinking that it was a misreading, I attempted to read the meter myself, only to find that it was completely buried under earth and mud and was unreadable. So, I arranged for SE Water to send out an inspector to recheck. This duly happened and he had to clear out the chamber before he could get to the meter to read it. When we finally got the reading it transpired that I have clearly been underpaying for years and that this latest huge bill is in fact pretty much correct.

I am seething that SE Water (or their casual labour contractors) have obviously for the last six bills been unable to read the meter and have just repeated the previous amount used on the new bill - hence the consistency. The bills do not say "Estimated". :mad:

What advice would the list give me as to what action I can take against SE Water, if any, for this lazy and irresponsible behaviour ? Has anyone else suffered from this kind of thing ? Who did you complain to ? Is it worth getting in touch with the ombudsman, etc..?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks

Cardew

jonny-boy wrote: »

Can anyone offer me some advice ?

I am supplied by South-East Water and have a water meter. Looking back at my bills for the last 3 years (that's about all I have) the quantity of water used, and thus the price, has been consistent. Almost to within a few cubic metres.

Imagine my surprise, then, when the latest bill should arrive and it is astronomical. Thinking that it was a misreading, I attempted to read the meter myself, only to find that it was completely buried under earth and mud and was unreadable. So, I arranged for SE Water to send out an inspector to recheck. This duly happened and he had to clear out the chamber before he could get to the meter to read it. When we finally got the reading it transpired that I have clearly been underpaying for years and that this latest huge bill is in fact pretty much correct.

I am seething that SE Water (or their casual labour contractors) have obviously for the last six bills been unable to read the meter and have just repeated the previous amount used on the new bill - hence the consistency. The bills do not say "Estimated". :mad:

What advice would the list give me as to what action I can take against SE Water, if any, for this lazy and irresponsible behaviour ? Has anyone else suffered from this kind of thing ? Who did you complain to ? Is it worth getting in touch with the ombudsman, etc..?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks

A couple of points.

Firstly the bills do not say 'Estimated' the meter reading usually has an 'E' against it e.g. 12345 E (I appreciate you may know this)

As there was a huge jump in consumption on your last bill, presumably this 'astronomical' bill wasn't estimated and must have been based on an actual meter reading as it is pretty much the same after the SE water man read it; and indeed why would it suddenly jump.

As it was "completely buried under earth and mud and was unreadable." how was the meter read to give you the correct figure for that bill? Surely the first meter reader wouldn't have read the meter and then buried it again under earth and mud?

Doesn't seem to add up, unless I have missed something?

You appear to have discounted the possibility you have a leak??

You can contact http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ to see what they suggest.
They might take the line that you have used the water anyway but try to negotiate a discount on your latest bills, if SE water concede that the meter readers had 'invented' actual readings and had not looked at the meter,

joyceatbanns

I am with SWW and the bill is astronomical.

I have a r.v. of £497 and they operate an extortionate standing charge for both sewage and water and charge currently £1.1045 in the £ for water and £2.3948 for sewage.

How can they charge so much more than any other water company.

They charge more than double the rate of Southern Water.

Do offwat have any say on the charges made by trhese authorities.

imported_admin wrote: »

Please place your water bill questions and comments here





Addition by Fran - link to Martin's article HERE

jonny-boy

Cardew wrote: »

A couple of points.

Firstly the bills do not say 'Estimated' the meter reading usually has an 'E' against it e.g. 12345 E (I appreciate you may know this)

As there was a huge jump in consumption on your last bill, presumably this 'astronomical' bill wasn't estimated and must have been based on an actual meter reading as it is pretty much the same after the SE water man read it; and indeed why would it suddenly jump.

As it was "completely buried under earth and mud and was unreadable." how was the meter read to give you the correct figure for that bill? Surely the first meter reader wouldn't have read the meter and then buried it again under earth and mud?

Doesn't seem to add up, unless I have missed something?

You appear to have discounted the possibility you have a leak?

You can contact http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ to see what they suggest.
They might take the line that you have used the water anyway but try to negotiate a discount on your latest bills, if SE water concede that the meter readers had 'invented' actual readings and had not looked at the meter,

]


We looked at the possibility of a leak with the inspector. We made sure that all water consuming devices were off and it was clear that the meter was not turning. No leak.

I, too, have no idea how the latest reading was obtained. The whole meter was not visible let alone the digits. In fact, the inspector turned off the water, replaced the meter with a new one and raised it by about 18" using an extension pipe so that it would not get covered again!
Perhaps the latest work of fiction known as a meter reading just happened to be close to real one by coincidence.

I think the idea of a discount is reasonable. I was wondering if anyone else had successfully negotiated such a deal with their supplier because of this kind of service ? Ideally I would like to tell them to **$$*$ and move to a new supplier - as one could with gas/elec. Sadly not possible.

Cardew

jonny-boy wrote: »

]


We looked at the possibility of a leak with the inspector. We made sure that all water consuming devices were off and it was clear that the meter was not turning. No leak.

I, too, have no idea how the latest reading was obtained. The whole meter was not visible let alone the digits. In fact, the inspector turned off the water, replaced the meter with a new one and raised it by about 18" using an extension pipe so that it would not get covered again!
Perhaps the latest work of fiction known as a meter reading just happened to be close to real one by coincidence.

I think the idea of a discount is reasonable. I was wondering if anyone else had successfully negotiated such a deal with their supplier because of this kind of service ? Ideally I would like to tell them to **$$*$ and move to a new supplier - as one could with gas/elec. Sadly not possible.

One last thought!

You are sure it is the meter for your property????

deanos

Cardew wrote: »

As it was "completely buried under earth and mud and was unreadable." how was the meter read to give you the correct figure for that bill? Surely the first meter reader wouldn't have read the meter and then buried it again under earth and mud?
,

Cardew some meters do get caked up with mud pretty quickly after they have been read, ants are the main culprits beleive it or not, even if it is covered in mud meter readers do have ways of reading the meters and do not have to completely clean the chamber even tho customers do not beleive they could have been read sometimes just because they cant see the meter

roppa

hi, does anyone have the address for alexander james & co who "act" on behalf of northumbrian water
many thanks

Cardew

roppa wrote: »

hi, does anyone have the address for alexander james & co who "act" on behalf of northumbrian water
many thanks

If they are a debt collection agency I would be very wary of contacting them.

Deal with the water company.