Water Bills questions and comment

sophisticat

I did wonder that; I think the bill just said waste water. However, the letter doesn't make anything clear, just says 'Standing Charges'. I've written to them to get an explanation anyway; if she should have been paying two then the letter should explain that.

kasia0308

We have moved to a new house on 18th Dec 2010. the house has never been occupied, it's a newly built house. We have a water meter and after 7 months got our first bill!!! we nearly fainted!! Severn Trent Water charged us £585 for these 7 months!!!! we only paid £300 in the old house (no meter) we would accept it if it was for a year but for 7 months??? madness
We checked if we have a leak so we were not using water for 3 hours, it used 0.04m3, is this a lot, do we have a leak, do we need to get it checked? there are 2 adults and 2 kids - 3 yr old and 4 mth old and we've not been using much more of the water in this house than in the old one. Today is 22nd July and the water meter reads 261.55m3. no way!! also maybe worth mentioning is the water meter was fitted straight by the road, would that impact the movements of the meter? help please!!

deanos

When you moved in did you take a reading ?

Gothicfairy

I will try and answer everything in order of your post as that might make it easier.

New build : Did you take a meter reading when you purchased the property ?
The amount you paid before without a meter has not relevance , sorry. With a meter you will be paying for what you use when this is sorted out.
LEAK : How many dials does your meter have ? If you used 4 litres than there is no major leak, it is more likely water filling the toilet etc. To be sure you need to turn the stop tap OFF and see if the meter still moves, If it is in the pavement as you say then it will more then likely be a mechanical meter and they have to have a flow to record whereas a fusion meter can over record without any flow.
1cm3 is 1 thousand litres so you have some way to go to suggest a leak though.

Where you meter is has no impact on water movement at all.


It sounds to me like you are being charged building water > Meaning your builders used the supply and no one told STW what the starting read is.
You need to go back to them with your initial reading and then they can rebill you, simple as really and it gets done every day.

Cardew

Gothicfairy wrote: »

If you used 4 litres than there is no major leak, it is more likely water filling the toilet etc.

If they used 0,04 cubic metres in 3 hours that is 40 litres(not 4 litres) and certainly suggests quite a leak if they were not using water.

If the leak is inside the house, the most likely explanation is water running into a toilet bowl from the cistern, or overflowing. A leak of that magnitude would show inside, but of course it could be external if the meter is on the pavement.

261 cubic metres in 7 months is way more than average(over double) for 4 persons.

Gothicfairy

but it would depend on their meter ? if it was 000 (4) then it would be 4 litres..oh ok going back I see that the op said CM3 rather then readings..Sorry my bad.

Saying that though there is always the chance that it is the reading that is wrong and it was 4 litres. Would still like to know how many dials and what kind of meter it is before saying for sure.

I think a flow test is the first thing anyway as that will clear up if there is a leak and if so roughly if external or internal.

kasia0308

The meter was fitted in 2 months after we moved in so they estimated the 2 previous months. We did have a leaking toilets that were fixed 2 months later would these have such a high impact on the use of the water?
the current reading is 261.55 - no more digits, mechanical meter. so as i said which means in the 3 hrs although all tabs off we used 40 litres of water? is that a sign of a leak?? shoul we ask them round to come and get it checked?? where can we get help and get it fixed asap? as the tab is runninh!!! lol

Gothicfairy

Before calling you need to do a flow test as that is the first thing they will ask you to do.

turn the stop tap off ( normally under the kitchen sink) and see if the meter moves > if so by how much ?
If the meter does not move then the fault is with your internal pipe work and I don't think they will rush to visit as it would be your responsiblity. If the meter moves with the stop tap off then the leak would be after the stop tap but before the meter so it might be on the communication pipe or in the pavement and they would then come and have a look.

Do the flow test first and then call them on 0800 7834444 and explain that you have done a flow test etc

DanniT

Hello,

Me and my partner are moving into privately rented accomodation for the first time. It is a one bed flat that is on a meter and supplied by Bristol Water.
Does anyone know how much we should expect to pay?

Many Thanks

missrfletcher

I live in a newly build 3 bedroom house with so say catagorey A rated applances ie washing Machine and Dishwasher and we have a water meter.
I only use the dishwaser once a day when full and use the washing machine when full and do all the other things to save water that came in a booklet from wessex water yet im paying £80 a month in water which i think is far to high.
After ringing Wessex water on a number of occations and getting no help on the last call the lady i spoke to asked if there was any building work going on near me i said yes but it had finished now and she said she wondered if they had tapped into my water supply but now they had gone there was no way of proving this.
I and everyone ivE spoken to thinks £80 a month is extortionate is there anything i can do to get this looked at? as i say im on a water meter