Water Bills questions and comment

susanb84

notwithit?? wrote: »

hi there,

i'm new to this board so sorry if this is in the wrong place. hope someone can help me sort out my water bill because i dont understand it!!!

my water bill from apr 08 to mar 09 was £448.39. (RVC£202 x £0740 on water and on waste £202 x £1.257)

so i had a meter put in to see if it would save me any money. we live in a two bed house 2 adults 1 child, mostly out all day, water with united utilities.

after the meter was installed we got a new bill estimated for £503.81 but the direct debit had dropped from £45 to £36.

how can they give us a higher estimate and then a lower monthly payment?

thanks

A similar thing happened to me last year, although I still have no idea how they calculated it. The more we spoke with United Utilities about it the more we (and them) got confused.

I was just wondering how much people normally expect to pay in water charges in England (I grew up in Scotland and only had to start paying water charges last summer)? For the past 9 months we've been paying £17 a month by direct debit for 2 people who don't spend a lot of the time at home. As my flatmate has just changed I had to change the direct debit into my name and have just been informed that we are £130 in arrears and asked to pay a direct debit of £55 monthly from now on (making it £660 a year for 2 people!). This seemed extortionate to me so I argued with them until they checked their guidelines and agreed with me that it was far too high for a flat with 2 occupiers. So now I'm paying £30 monthly by direct debit, but I have been told that I have to pay off the outstanding £130 soon.

JackNo1

Hi there, newbie here. I've been reading through a lot of the threads here but can't find a situation like mine. I live with my boyfriend in a 2 bedroom flat, previously we lived in a 3 bed semi detached house. We moved to a smaller property to lower our outgoings each month. Our water bill at the house was £30 a month, non-metered. At this new flat we are now being charged £100 a month, again non-metered. I called United Utilities and they said the bill is based on the Rateable Value of the property. I still don't know how a smaller flat can cost more than 3 times as much as a house, but I asked about a water meter. He pointed me to an online form and said it could take up to 3 months to fit and that in the meantime I would have to keep paying £100 a month for the water rates.

There is no way this flat is worth that much so I did a little digging. The flat is a converted house, and the houses nearby are rather large. This house was converted into two flats, back in 2001 but the landlord never got planning permission from the council. Is the rateable value UU are talking about based on the house? If so, how can I prove to them that it is now two flats and not one large house? How can they justify getting all the extra money? I told my letting agents and they said they would ask the landlord about it, but they never seem to bother doing anything we ask and I have heard nothing.

There is no way I am going to pay £100 a month for a smaller property than before, which is just down the road from the new place. What can I do?

Cardew

JackNo1 wrote: »

Hi there, newbie here. I've been reading through a lot of the threads here but can't find a situation like mine. I live with my boyfriend in a 2 bedroom flat, previously we lived in a 3 bed semi detached house. We moved to a smaller property to lower our outgoings each month. Our water bill at the house was £30 a month, non-metered. At this new flat we are now being charged £100 a month, again non-metered. I called United Utilities and they said the bill is based on the Rateable Value of the property. I still don't know how a smaller flat can cost more than 3 times as much as a house, but I asked about a water meter. He pointed me to an online form and said it could take up to 3 months to fit and that in the meantime I would have to keep paying £100 a month for the water rates.

There is no way this flat is worth that much so I did a little digging. The flat is a converted house, and the houses nearby are rather large. This house was converted into two flats, back in 2001 but the landlord never got planning permission from the council. Is the rateable value UU are talking about based on the house? If so, how can I prove to them that it is now two flats and not one large house? How can they justify getting all the extra money? I told my letting agents and they said they would ask the landlord about it, but they never seem to bother doing anything we ask and I have heard nothing.

There is no way I am going to pay £100 a month for a smaller property than before, which is just down the road from the new place. What can I do?

On your bill it will state the Rateable Value(RV) of the property. This will be a figure in ££££s e.g. £550

It is very possible - indeed probable - that you are still being assessed for the RV for the whole house. Which means the other flat is paying zero!

If the house was converted after 1990 it would have been mandatory for a meter to have been fitted. - that would have been part of the planning permission(which he didn't get!!)

There is no way United Utilities can allocate another RV to your flat. They would normally either fit a meter or give you an assessed charge.

However this raises the problem of the other flat, and United Utilities will be quite within their rights to insist that the property(both flats) continue paying as at present.

It isn't the water company's problem, it is your landlord's problem

Woodyrocks

My water rate was being paid to Thames Water directly out of my benefit. I got a letter from TW last month informing me that I owe them £640. I phoned them up to ask how comes, as I said the money is paid directly to them. They then said it seems this has not been the case for many months. I asked them why they did not write to inform me of this earlier and they could not give me an answer.

I made contact with the benefits people and informed them of the situation and they said that the payment had stopped close to 2yrs ago. Once again, they could not give me an answer as to why. I asked them to reinstate payment asap.

I phoned back TW to let them know the situation and also to ask why they would have left this for 2 years WITHOUT billing me in the interim and just allowed this debt to build up like this. Once again, they could not answer this.

Came home today to find a letter from a debt collection agency telling me to send them a check for £640 odd pounds made payable to TW. I, in hysterics, phones up TW to ask them why they would choose to take this course of action knowing full well all of the above including the fact that I had no knowledge of the debt until a month ago and that as far as I know payment was being made directly to them and to cap it off, I had also informed them that payment had now been re-instated!

Why would they do this to me???? Once again they could not answer but say 'not to worry and that they will now update my file stating that payment is once again being made out of my benefits' and that I should ignore said letter.

BUT I can't. I am sh**ting myself because I fear that all the good I have been doing in the past year tp build up my credit rating has been shot to bits once again. This is now going to be showing up on my credit file isn't it??? The TW rep I spoke to said it wouldn't but what do they know. He said that they would terminate all actions but they have still initiated it and I am just so scared that there is now yet another huge red mark of unpaid debt on my file.

All I am trying to do is sort my life out, try and get out of the system and live independently with my Daughter but at times like this I just feel like I am fighting a losing battle and I should just give up. I am so ashamed to have to be seen & heard by my 7yr old crying my eyes out on the phone to some random call centre worker

At times like this I really hate my life

I don't know if I can trust TW to get the debt collectors off my case, or their empty promise that my file will remain unaffected by this and I don't know if I can trust the benefits agency to pay the bleeding money direct as they are meant to and not stop it prematurely. I just feel so powerless

olly300

@ woodyrocks - you need to start a formal complaint with Thames water in writing. Email will do as they answer emails. If you are still being chased by the Debt collection people as the result of your complaint then contact these people http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ .

asasas

Hi All,

I am a regular with Martin's telly programme and the newsletter, but a first timer in the forum. I do apologise if my kind of questions have been answered 5000 times before, but I did not have any time at all to read through the history.

I have just received my latest water bill (Anglian Water) which seems to be massively overcharged to me. In fact, after having a look at our previous two bills, I found that the first one worked out to be 83p/day, the second one 82p/day, while now they want us to pay over £300 for six months, which is 167p/day. It's only the two of us in a small one bedroom flat without a garden.

Obviously, I called them and they kindly put a 6 weeks hold on the bill until we do a water meter test. They explained what to do, which we did, but according to the results, we do not have leeks in the system. So they turned around and said that they can't do anything else; if this is what the meter shows, then this what we have to pay.

I am pretty sure that we didn't start taking twice as much showers :rolleyes: in the last six months than we did previously, so why is the bill so high?

Does anyone have an idea what could have happened?!

Many thanks in advanced!

deanos

Check you last bill, im pretty sure it would have been estimated, a lot of meters were cancelled and not read so were estimated 6 months ago and many have been under estimated which will make this bill on the high side as its been read properly this time.

TigerJohn_2

Hello,
When i was living as a student i didn't pay water bills, now however (the house i lived in has been bought by a new landlord) i've been given bills for the time period i was there. I'm really perplexed as i've never set up a bill or an account with the water board so how can this be possible?

In addition whose liable for the bill as the account is addressed to me and then it says also liable (housemates names)

I'd really appreciate anybodys response as this is worrying me quite alot as its for a significant amount of money.


Thanks,

John

GhostHunter_3

Hi

Advanced appologies if this is in the wrong place, but it is linked to water bills!



Speaking about the water bill as I have been gathering the paperwork together I have noticed that I seem to have another problem now in that I am in debt with the waste water company but as far as I can see it isn't my fault this time.

Statement date 4 April 2008
My statement shows:

Unmetered wastewater services statement for billing period 01/04/08 - 31/03/09

Total now due is £259.31

How the bill is calculated:

The rateable value for property is £161
Wastewater pence in the £ is 101.20
Number of days in billing period is 365

Breakdown of charges for this bill

Wastewater rateable value charge £162.93
Wastewater standing charge £27.28
Surface water drainage £22.00
Highway drainage £7.00
Total for this bill = £219.21

Account summary
Ballance brought foward £40.10
Charges for this bill £219.21

Total now due = £259.31


It then says that -

Your bill includes a 1.5% reduction due to previous misreporting of information to Ofwat. We are sorry.

At the foot of the bill it says in capital letters -

For information only - payment scheme in operation.

I then have a letter dated 7 April 2008 that reads:

There is no need for you to contact us in response to this letter

We have recalculated your payment scheme to take account of our charges for 2008 / 09

If you have not yet received your bill for 08/09 you will do so in the next few days. We are pleased to confirm that your new payment scheme is as follows:

1st installment of £25.94, due 25/4/08

Following installments are £25.93 due MONTHLY from 25/5/08 until the next review of your plan.

You can continue to use your existing payment card, our records will be updated automatically with details of the payments made.

Please remember to keep your receipts as a record of the payments that you have made. If you should lose or damage your card, please call our automated service straight away on xxxx xxx xxxx to order a replacement.

Switching to paying monthly by direct debit for the first time we will reduce your anual bill by £5.

Yours sincerely

sig XXXXXXXXX


Customer services director.

Two issues I have here,

1 - I have never registered for a payment card and signed up for Direct Debit from the day we moved in 2 years ago. Obviously payments stop for a while but I ALWAYS renew them as soon as I get the annual bill, as I did in this case.

2 - I do not have a payment card, never have received one. I remember calling them in response to the letter to check I had an 'active' Direct Debit and this was confirmed over the phone, I was told collections may begin a few days later than 25th but not to worry.

However on looking again today when trying to sort the paperwork out I have now noted that they have not been taking payment and there is no direct debit set up on my account. I have double checked to see the date or amount hasn't changed and looked back through all my statements since April but still no sign!

I am now going to have to call the Water company up tomorrow to sort this out but that leaves me in debt of £25.94 a month since April (collection date should be 25th of each month) therefore I am almost 4 months behind so thats £25.94 x 4 = £103.76 debt through no fault of my own. :mad:

I have an idea they will simply say they can add the £103.76 debt spread out onto the remaining 8 months I have to pay but that will obviously push up the amount to be collected each month by £12.97 to bring the total monthly Direct debit to £38.91 a month for 1 waste water bill, more money I simply cannot afford (£25.94 was a struggle)! :eek:

Now what do I do where do I stand here?


How can we know if we would be better off with a water meter (are they free to get installed?) There is just me, my husband and 2 dogs and a 200 gallon tropical fish tank in our household of a small 2 bedroom bungalow. Any advice on saving money on water (waste or supply) most appreciated.

As you probably know I am already stretched to breaking point finacially and emotionally!

Many thanks.

H

:beer:

yorksherpud

Hi I have a bit of a query regarding my water bill. We bought a brand new 3 bedroomes house exactly 2 years ago, water meter and all. There's my hubbie and I and our 11 year old son here.

In my first year I contacted Yorkshire Water and asked to pay by budget plan (DD monthly) they charged me at £34 pm. At the end of that year they sent me a letter saying they needed to reduce my payments to £17 pm. I think I had overpayed and received a small sum back but can't remember exactly.

About a month ago they got in touch with us again saying that they were now going to put our DD up to £77 (that's not a typo I really did say £77!). Apparently we had underpaid by £285 last year due to them not working DD out properly so they were putting our DD up accordingly. We did not do anything differently last year to the previous year, in fact quite the opposite, in our first year we had a major flood and watered our new lawn to help it along quite a bit - none of which we did last year.

When I rang to query they advised that I do the Standing test, which I am going to do this weekend, but said if I paid the £285 that would bring my payments down. I just don't have a spare £285 in my back pocket at the moment.

Basically what I want to know is does all this sound right to any of you MSEs. I am fairly new to Money Saving and need all the help I can get!

Kind regards

Pud x