Water Bills questions and comment

mel_mel

Hi
I got a letter in September from Thames Water saying they had a new charge basis which was recently introduced. Because I was not able to have a water meter installed which was last year. They offer a new tiered tariff know as the Assessed Household Charge. It is based on the number of bedrooms at a property.
0/1 bedrooms £199.00
2 bedrooms £217.00
3+ bedrooms £266.00
This has saved me £35.98 a year. Which is a nice change to have a discount for nothing.

mel_mel

Hi just noticed post from dinahd on my bill from Thames Water it says
Wastewater chargeable value/rate per £ supplycharge fixed charge totals£
182 @ 32.90p 59.88 34.00 93.88
Don't know if this helps or not.

dinahd

Thanks mel mel, not sure I understand thse figures but it's a start! Oh I am sooo thick - it does tell me on my bill (duh!)

Cardew

dinahd wrote: »

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.

It might be advantageous to see if you can be charged on the Rateable Value of your property.

Yo pay xxp per £1 of your rateable value. So if the rate was 60p for sewerage and your rateable value was £120 you would pay £72(120.60p)

Thames Water should have your Rateable Value.

Headsabovewater

tobycgraham wrote: »

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

were any of these bills were estimated?

I'm guessing that the bill from 7th July 07 to the 14th January 08 had an estimated reading at the end and was estimated too low.

Then you Will find the bill from 15th January 08 to the 11th July 08 had an actual reading at the end and the missing consumption from the previous estimated bill would have been included in this bill.

This would explain how the first bill was low the next high then the last lower again and no meter fault or leak detected.
I would still Cary out a flow test yourself as consumptions of £571.08 is very high for 2 people for one year.

MothballsWallet

Just got my water statement from Severn Trent, and I'm 127 quid in credit (from paying about 16 quid a month for the last couple of years).

I know that with gas and electric you don't have a right to have your DD amount changed - you can only call your supplier and request it be reviewed (but they can do nothing) - does the same restriction apply to water as well?

Martin - you need to bang on at the so-called regulator(s) about this as well as it's carp. But I wouldn't expect anything less from this country anyway...

James123_2

Originally Posted by 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.

Anglian Water is one of the most expensive areas for supply - if the meter reading is now correct, then it does look like the only option would be to look at ways of reducing your consumption. I live in Anglia region and bill for 3 people is about £400 - and we're fairly frugal (dirty!)

Captain_Flack

:rolleyes: I live a a studio flat (i.e., a bedsit with a seperate kitchen, bathroom and a tiny hallway!) and I was told over the phone initially by United Utilities that my water bill from from 5th June 08 to 31st March 09 was to be £20.89...A WEEK...!:eek:

For God's sake, one of my brothers is heavily oppressed, OH, sorry, I mean, married with 3 daughters :rotfl: and lives in a 3 bedroomed house, and when I told him he went, 'HOW much?!!!':rolleyes:

When I was initially on the phone about this, I specifically asked the lady I was speaking to to verify this and stressed, 'A...WEEK?! Are you sure?!' - and she affirmed it was PER WEEK...:money:

I then looked through the bill when it arrived on paper - it was for £208.52; my arithmetic tells me that's little under 20 quid PER MONTH over the 42 weeks of the bill (I know, yes, I can read a calender and count weeks between 5th June 08 and 31st March 09 - dead clever like that to)...I think THIS seems more like it!:TFor God's sake, can't United Untilites actually employ people who understand how to calculate a bill breakdown for customers properly over the phone?! Plant pots!:rolleyes:

Mind you, it still seems a lot for the a single occupancy flat the size of a postage stamp like mine!???:o

I know they go on about 'it's based upon the rateable value of your property, which was set by your local authority before 1990 bla bla bla...' but come on, I'm sure this can be changed and a different method used!:rolleyes: Mind you, United Utilites' shareholders wouldn't get as big a dividend - and !!!!!! Turpin, the CEO and his board of useless numptees wouldn't get as big a yearly bonus for sitting on their a***s would they?!:beer:

At the end of the day, they charge to do nothing more than process something that evaporates from the oceans, and falls from the sky...it's not as much of an industrial process as processing and distributing, say, oil and gas for example!:mad:

Water Companies = EXTORTIAN RACKETEERS!:T

Cardew

Captain_Flack wrote: »

Mind you, it still seems a lot for the a single occupancy flat the size of a postage stamp like mine!???:o

I know they go on about 'it's based upon the rateable value of your property, which was set by your local authority before 1990 bla bla bla...' but come on, I'm sure this can be changed and a different method used!:rolleyes: Mind you, United Utilites' shareholders wouldn't get as big a dividend - and !!!!!! Turpin, the CEO and his board of useless numptees wouldn't get as big a yearly bonus for sitting on their a***s would they?!:beer:

Welcome to the forum.

They do have another method of assessing your water charges - it is called metering!

The size of your property doesn't affect how much water you use. You would use the same amount of water if you were a single occupant in a 5 bed flat. So metering makes it fair and even.

You don't expect your gas/electricity to be determinined by the size of your property;)

If for any reason they can't fit a meter, then you can elect to pay the average(assessed charge) for your property/occupancy.

You perhaps should read the terms and conditions under which the water companies operate - which are laid down in the Water Privatisation bill and overseen by the Regulator.

It doesn't affect the Water company's profits if you pay £1,000 pa or £100. The money they can raise in charges(and profits) is controlled by the Regulator. If you pay below your 'fair share' it is made up by the other x million customers paying a little more. If you pay more than your 'fair share' the reverse.

Essentially the companies submit to the Regulator that their expenses are £XXmillion and if that is agreed, they allow x% profit to be made. In the real world it is a win/win situation for the companies.

Of course the water companies, as a monopoly, should never have been privatisied. If they could make even bigger profits they undoubtedly would! However the ultimate sanction is that the Regulator has the power to remove their licence - sack them in effect.

wajur

I pay 30$ for a month. And I think this is too much.:mad: