Water Bills questions and comment

Mumtoofour

Haha im neither in a big house or a nice area. Apparently they fitted a water meter out on the street somewhere. They didn't tell me about this. They had a look at my account and i have been overpaying for the past year. So they are sending a nice little cheque in the post. They also advised me because i have 3 children under the age if 19 i can get my water for £8 something a week. All i have to do is send a copy of a child benefit letter. So happy days. Just makes me wonder how long i would of kept paying before they realised i was paying too much. Hmmmmm

charlotte240887

hi, please can anyone give me some advice? i've just moved into a new property after finally getting away from my abusive ex and wessex water are refusing to let me set up a standing order on my new property until the debt for the old property is paid off (just over £1000 and before anyone judges my ex had told me all along he was paying the bill when really he was wasting the cash *sigh*) I don't see why I should have to pay all of it off leaving myself in more debt because they won't take payment for my new place? I said if they split the bill in half and charged both of us I would happily pay my share but they won't accept this! I honestly don't know what to do :-(

Mykidsmum

charlotte240887 wrote: »

hi, please can anyone give me some advice? i've just moved into a new property after finally getting away from my abusive ex and wessex water are refusing to let me set up a standing order on my new property until the debt for the old property is paid off (just over £1000 and before anyone judges my ex had told me all along he was paying the bill when really he was wasting the cash *sigh*) I don't see why I should have to pay all of it off leaving myself in more debt because they won't take payment for my new place? I said if they split the bill in half and charged both of us I would happily pay my share but they won't accept this! I honestly don't know what to do :-(

Hi, is the £1000 debt from your previous address with a debt collection agency? Some water co's will not set up a payment plan if a debt has been transferred to a collection agency.

You are jointly liable for the debt from your previous address and Wessex Water will not get involved in a 3rd party dispute between you and your ex partner.

They have your details at your new address and you will be chased for the arrears.

Check their website as they may have a scheme for people in severe financial difficulty or phone them tomorrow and ask.

Good Luck.

too_much_debt

When our neighbours moved into their house in the late 80s they had no water meter and neither did our house. They had someone come out and say they could have a water meter fitted free of charge or it would cost them later on when meters were installed. They had the meter fitted but I think it was fitted onto the wrong pipe.


We moved in in 2006 and had a letter saying that our house did not have a meter and as new owners a water meter would automatically be fitted.


A water meter was fitted and we were given a little booklet with the meter number on the front and the date it was fitted. All our bills since then have this same meter number on the bill.


We had a large bill in for £1700 and rang up, the lady gave us our meter number and told us to check it and call back with the reading. We did this and were told our bill would be £166.


A few days later the neighbour asked us why we were looking at his meter and we said it is our meter but he said no when he needed to turn his water off a while ago he turned off the one that he thought was his but it did not shut his water off but when he turned ours off his water went off.


I rang up the water people again and was told that the neighbour had the same water meter serial number on his account yet all his bills have a 97 meter number on (and no where on his bill is the 06 meter number it must just be on their system).


We have someone coming out on Friday but I want to know is it possible that the water has been disconnected at some point and connected back wrong? Our meters are in separate holes with separate covers but are right next to each other outside next doors house.


I am assuming that when he had his meter fitted in the 90s they put it on the wrong pipe and then thinking that the other one must be ours the water company put our meter onto his pipe by mistake.


When the water co. come out on Friday if they say the meters have been put on wrong all this time (16 years in next doors case) will they move the meter that they put on in 06 when we moved in onto the other pipe and take the meter off the other pipe and put it onto his correct pipe?
Can we request a new meter if they decide to leave them as they are and just change the details over as we do not want a 16 year old meter that you can't even read the numbers on properly.


Thanks in advance.

claireyph

Hi

I have contacted Severn Trent Water today as my account is £260 in credit. They have explained that this amount is held until my next bill is due since we pay for water we are using now.

Is this right? I know that makes sense but since my last bill in February I have continuously been in credit so in effect they have held my money for 6 months. If I paid once receiving my bill and wasn't set up on direct debit then surely we would then be paying for water we had used, not in advance for water we will use over the coming months.

Hope someone can advise.
Thanks

Mykidsmum

claireyph wrote: »

Hi

I have contacted Severn Trent Water today as my account is £260 in credit. They have explained that this amount is held until my next bill is due since we pay for water we are using now.

Is this right? I know that makes sense but since my last bill in February I have continuously been in credit so in effect they have held my money for 6 months. If I paid once receiving my bill and wasn't set up on direct debit then surely we would then be paying for water we had used, not in advance for water we will use over the coming months.

Hope someone can advise.
Thanks

Think of it as pay as you go. YOU have agreed to a budget plan to pay monthly amounts roughly equivalent to the cost of how much water you use each month. When you receive your bill in August you will have accumulated enough credit to cover your bill. Your credit will be used up and the cycle starts all over again. Your monthly payments are periodically reviewed to ensure your payments are on track with your usage and to prevent too much credit/debit accumulating.

If you don't want to budget for your account in this way you could wait until your August bill and then cancel your budget plan. Then pay every 6 months when you receive your bill. They will not refund your credit just before your meter is due to be read as this money is to cover the bill you are due.

Cardew

claireyph wrote: »

Hi

I have contacted Severn Trent Water today as my account is £260 in credit. They have explained that this amount is held until my next bill is due since we pay for water we are using now.

Is this right? I know that makes sense but since my last bill in February I have continuously been in credit so in effect they have held my money for 6 months. If I paid once receiving my bill and wasn't set up on direct debit then surely we would then be paying for water we had used, not in advance for water we will use over the coming months.

Hope someone can advise.
Thanks

Correct.


There is no financial incentive for paying by Direct Debit.


If metered you can pay at the end of the billing period.


Most of us pay by DD simply because it is easier. The loss of interest on your credit balance is probably cancelled out by the postage on sending cheques twice a year.

MerlinMags

Last month the 'water men' visited our road, as everyone is to have a compulsory meter fitted. No choice for anyone with Southern Water, I was told in a letter.

The men told us:
"We can't find your stop valve, but we've located the pipe with an underground-listening-device, and we'll fit a new valve, and meter, with the hatch in your back lawn." Wifey was most annoyed with the proposed location. They are due back this week to carry out the work.

The men told my neighbour:
"We can't find your stop valve so you won't have a meter; you'll have a special code to calculate your bill." They didn't even try the listening device for some reason.

Does anyone know which of us will be worse off? (Both families with 3 kids.) Then we can decide who needs to argue a case!

MerlinMags

It is strange they did not give each household a consistent reply.

But it's stranger that they haven't noticed (as we have just worked out ourselves) that 4 houses are sharing 2 stop valves! So no wonder they couldn't find as many valves as they were expecting...

Neillgb

Amazes me that there are so many people that pay by direct debit when there is little or no incentive, stop your DD's and teach these greedy monopolies a lesson!!!!