Water Bills questions and comment

jeffjace

I had a water meter installed in my small business 15mths ago but was told that it would not be used till April 2009. A water board meter reader came out yesterday to read the meter and I had used 11 units in 15months which amounts to £46.60 in money. I am charged £675.95 annually by the water board.
I rang them up and asked based on this information what my rates would be for 2009/2010 and was informed that regardless of my water usage I would still be charged £131.41 drainage plus £250.76 pence for maintenance of my meter which as far as I believe consists of a meter reader coming out once a year. Although I will be saving just over £200.00 per year it still means that I will be paying almost £400 for using £3.50 pence worth of water per month:mad: . I live in Scotland and was told that this laid down by the Scottish government who incidentally are making a big noise about helping small business. Day light robbery I think.


Addition by Fran - link to Martin's article HERE

skip_1

Does the number of people in your property i.e. named on bill affect the toatal yearly cost on a rateable property?

Cardew

skip_1 wrote: »

Does the number of people in your property i.e. named on bill affect the toatal yearly cost on a rateable property?

No.
You could have 10 people living in a 1 bed flat or 1 person living in a 10 bed mansion, and both properties would pay according to to the Rateable Value(RV) of that property.

You don't have to declare how many are living in the property for any form of water bill.

sharonp1

I have just received a demand from my water supplier to pay for the water that I will use for the next 6 months.
Given that we are a small business and I am sure like many other small business's we can't afford to pay for something that we haven't yet had! what can be done to reverse the situation and we pay in arrears?

Can anyone provide some advise?

Thank you

Cardew

sharonp1 wrote: »

I have just received a demand from my water supplier to pay for the water that I will use for the next 6 months.
Given that we are a small business and I am sure like many other small business's we can't afford to pay for something that we haven't yet had! what can be done to reverse the situation and we pay in arrears?

Can anyone provide some advise?

Thank you

Pay by Direct Debit??

latecharger

We moved house in May 2008, and I closed my water metered account with United Utilities, and opened an new one for the new house. We had an actual bill for £30.26 in credit (date 5 days before we moved), and then another actual bill for £10.26 in credit, up to and including 5 days after we moved. I did nothing about this due to moving house etc, and as we were owed money rather than the other way around, there was no amount to be paid.

However in September I had a letter from 1st Credit (UU debt collector) to say that we owed £139.14. I rang UU and they said it was their fault, and they hadn't billed us correctly in 2005, and this was the recalculated amount to close the account. I said I didn't know anything about the amount outstanding until the 1st Credit letter (5months after we moved), they said it's their billing fault but we still need to pay!

How long do they have to bill for meter usage? I've asked for a breakdown but I also have about 6 bills (most actuals) saying we are all paid up to date. It seems odd that you can be billed almost three year after usage.

Thanks

nephasu

Has anyone else had this problem?
Followed council tax rebanding notes and got my house rebanded from grade C to grade B.
But read that houses water charges are based on rateable value so i should be eligable to a refund for the last 15 years, but they have refused, any idea what to do next? any advise will be greatfully received.
:j

Mobeer

nephasu wrote: »

Has anyone else had this problem?
Followed council tax rebanding notes and got my house rebanded from grade C to grade B.
But read that houses water charges are based on rateable value so i should be eligable to a refund for the last 15 years, but they have refused, any idea what to do next? any advise will be greatfully received.
:j

These are different things -the council uses the council tax banding, the water company uses rateable value which is unrelated.

tobycgraham

Hi, I have a problem and am not sure how to proceed. I live in a small house with one other person and am on a water meter supplied by anglian water.

From the 7th July 07 to the 14th January 08 our water bill was £156.76. This equates to roughly £25/month.

From the 15th January 08 to the 11th July 08 our water bill was £414.32. This equates to roughly £70/month.

I complained to anglian water, and told them our water usage had remained the same. They put my bill on hold and sent round an inspector to check the meter and to see if there were any leaks. The inspector told me that the meter was working fine and that there are no leaks.

A couple of days ago i received a new bill.

From the 12th July 08 to the 6th November 08 our water bill was £560.97 including the £414.32 from the last bill. This means our actual water bill for this period was £146.65 for 4 months.. rougly £36/month, high, but no where near the £70 a month of the previous bill.

Now, i'm not sure where to go from here. What can i do ? I really cannot afford to pay a £560 bill

dinahd

I live in a village where my water is supplied by the local landowner but Thames Water charge me for wastewater. I have just had a water meter put in by my landlords, and the water supply costs have been cut by two thirds now that I am being charged for actual usage - which is briliant.

However Thames Water are refusing to charge me on my wastewater for actual usage. They are saying that I must keep paying their assessed rate which is based on 3 or 4 people living in my house - I live on my own. Surely now that I can supply meter readings they must charge me for actual usage?

During a frought telephone conservation I also suggested that maybe they should be paying me for adding water into the system...!!!

If I could find out the charge per unit for wastewater I would like to work it out myself and make those payments until this is resolved, but can't find anwhere that tells me what they actually charge. I am currently with-holding payment as I feel very strongly about what I consider to be gross overcharging now that I have the meter readings.

Welcome comments, advice or cost of wastewater units... Thank you.