Water Bills questions and comment

Cardew

Anja wrote: »

What is a reasonable amount to be in credit by? Mine is £46 but they, Anglia Water, seem reluctant to refund as it has formed their calculation for the next year's d/d amount.

My account is always in credit so I think I am being reasonable asking for a refund. I also think they have set my d/d too high so they will be owing me money next year too.

If your credit was £46 at the end of the billing period, the normal procedure for smallish amounts is to credit that toward next year's bill.


e.g. if your predicted bill for next year was, say, £500, they would base your DD on a predicted bill of £454.


Your account will always appear to be in credit if you are paying monthly and only being debited at the end of a 6 month period(or 3 month period).

Anja

I mailed AW and asked them to refund me. They said that their dd calculation was based on historical usage and the £46 formed their new monthly charge. I saw red at this point and mailed back. We have only been in the house 3 months so what historical usage had they based it on and I would still like my refund.

The response came back that they would refund me, lower my dd and apologised!

Its just a shame that you have to fight in the first place for what is rightly yours!

MerlinMags

Chap from the water company just came round to find my outside stop tap (and couldn't!) which is where the meter will eventually go. He then asked my how many bedrooms I had. Shouldn't they already know the 'rateable value' of each house?

I'm worried now I gave the wrong answer. Should I have said "this house was marketed and sold as 3 bed" or "we use 4 of the rooms as bedrooms" ? (There's 5 of us. Maybe it's irrelevant!)

MoneyMate

Do Water companies have any responsibilities when supplied water is through old lead piping ?

Cardew

MerlinMags wrote: »

Chap from the water company just came round to find my outside stop tap (and couldn't!) which is where the meter will eventually go. He then asked my how many bedrooms I had. Shouldn't they already know the 'rateable value' of each house?

I'm worried now I gave the wrong answer. Should I have said "this house was marketed and sold as 3 bed" or "we use 4 of the rooms as bedrooms" ? (There's 5 of us. Maybe it's irrelevant!)

They will know the Rateable Value(RV) of your house, and it will be on your bill. That is how non-metered properties charges are calculated e.g if RV is say £250, water charges will be 250 x yyypence.


Number of bedrooms is but one factor in the calculation of the RV - which would have been assessed in the period 1973 to 1990, RV was based on the notional rent a property could command; not sale value


That RV is fixed and cannot be changed so you could have stated 1 bed or 12 bed and it wouldn't have mattered.

Mykidsmum

MerlinMags wrote: »

Chap from the water company just came round to find my outside stop tap (and couldn't!) which is where the meter will eventually go. He then asked my how many bedrooms I had. Shouldn't they already know the 'rateable value' of each house?

I'm worried now I gave the wrong answer. Should I have said "this house was marketed and sold as 3 bed" or "we use 4 of the rooms as bedrooms" ? (There's 5 of us. Maybe it's irrelevant!)

Hi MerlinMags, you say the chap was locating where the water meter will eventually go. Maybe he was asking how many bedrooms you have to check that you would benefit from a water meter. (Unless you are undergoing a compulsory meter fit in which case you have no choice). Remember Martins guidance "As a rough rule of thumb, if there are more or the same number of bedrooms in your house than people, check out getting a meter."
I think you should have given him the honest answer, i.e. there are 5 of you. I water meter may be more expensive than charges based on your RV. (Unless you have a very high RV).

Mumtoofour

Hi there. Im new to this site. Just checked my direct debit for water Im paying £16:50 a week. Is this normal? It seems a bit much to me. Im sure it wasnt this much when i moved in around 15 months ago. And havnt had any letters saying they are putting the price up 😬

Cardew

Mumtoofour wrote: »

Hi there. Im new to this site. Just checked my direct debit for water Im paying £16:50 a week. Is this normal? It seems a bit much to me. Im sure it wasnt this much when i moved in around 15 months ago. And havnt had any letters saying they are putting the price up 😬

Welcome to the forum.


You don't say where you live, or if you have a water meter.


Water charges vary by a huge amount across the UK. The South West having by far the highest charges - as much as 3 times more than the cheapest district.


It is unusual for water charges to be paid weekly. To whom do you pay those charges.


We need more information.


P.S. Scotland have different charging structure.

Mumtoofour

Hi there. Im in fleetwood lancashire and with united utilities. And no ive not had a water meter fitted 👍😊

Cardew

Mumtoofour wrote: »

Hi there. Im in fleetwood lancashire and with united utilities. And no ive not had a water meter fitted 👍😊

Without a meter, your water charges will be based on the Rateable Value(RV) of your property.


United Utilities can tell you exactly(to a penny) what your bill will be for 2014/15.


£16.50 a week(£858) is very high and indicates you will have a large expensive property in a nice area.


or


You are paying back a debt.


It will only take a phone call to United Utilities to get the exact position on your account.