Water Bills questions and comment

JJ_Egan

£612 per year is within £ 40 of what i would pay if i was not on a meter .
Metered as a single user i pay about £250 a year .

Meter for low user is a definite saving but your only way to save would be to move to a house/ area with a lower rateable water charge .

You can have a meter and have it removed at the end of twelve months if you are not happy .

Anglicist

Hello. I am a foreigner, so please excuse me if this is a daft question. Anglian Water charges me for "sewerage service" and Severn Trent—for "measured drainage". Are sewerage service and measured drainage two different things? I will appreciate any advice you might have. Thank you x

Cardew

Anglicist wrote: »

Hello. I am a foreigner, so please excuse me if this is a daft question. Anglian Water charges me for "sewerage service" and Severn Trent—for "measured drainage". Are sewerage service and measured drainage two different things? I will appreciate any advice you might have. Thank you x

With Severn Trent 'Measured Drainage' is Surface Water Drainage(SWD) which a charge for the rainwater that falls onto the house and land and enters the sewerage system. There are 3 bands of charging for 1. flats, 2. semi-detached, 3. detached properties.


You might be able to claim relief from that charge - search on MSE for SWD.


Severn Trent call sewerage charges 'Used Water'. This is 'foul water' from toilets sinks etc that enter the sewerage system


For Anglian Water you would need to tell us more about the charge 'sewerage services' it could be a number of things.

Cursed

Hope I am posting correctly. I have a huge problem with Anglian Water. Have just discovered, to my horror, that they have been putting monthly reports on my credit file, marking me as being 'late' with my payments and classifying my account with them as 'delinquent' all of which has, of course, had the most devastating effect on my credit score and wrecking the plans I had to take out a mortgage. I would like to make a few points:
1. I have NEVER, repeat NEVER been late with a payment or missed a payment. I have had a standing order in place for years, always pitched at the level Anglian Water requested and this payment has gone through on time, every month for the last five years.
2. Despite having a water meter, being very frugal and conscientious about my water use, living on my own in a tiny house, with no dishwasher, only using the washing machine once or twice a week, following all the advice they give you about saving water and lowering bills, for the last five years my bills have been worryingly high. I have made endless calls to them over the years about this, asking whether I am on the right tariff, if there is a leak, if I share the supply with the neighbour, on and on. The level of the bills has been a complete mystery. They have sent out their plumber to check for leaks, he swears there aren't any, he's checked the meter, which seems to work fine and he is sure I am not paying for the neighbours' bills. And yet, he told me he lives with his girlfriend, they each have two showers a day, they have a dishwasher, they use the washing machine every other day, they water the garden, flush the loo every single time, etc. etc. far more water than I use and yet their bill each month is £27! I have been paying over £33 a month and it always seem to lag behind. Every now and again I pay an extra amount to get back to zero and then it all starts again. I swear I use half the amount of water the plumber was describing. Every time a bill comes through I call Anglian Water and we go through the same old thing again - me always asking: am I on the right tariff? (yes) why are my bills so high? (don't know - we'll send you another leaflet) am I paying the right amount to keep up with my payments? (yes) does this affect my credit file (no) am I doing everything I can to keep on top of this? (yes).
3. The amount I have been paying every month was the amount they have asked me to pay.
4. They have NEVER EVER told me that paying off the amount I owed on a monthly basis was doing me any harm.
5. They NEVER informed me that they were sending monthly reports to my credit file - and bad ones at that.
6. It wasn't until July (last month) that they finally sent me a letter informing me that they were now putting monthly reports on my account on my credit file (a year after they started). I had no idea before this.
7. After the last discussion I had with them on the back of this letter it finally emerged that YES, in fact they HAD put me on the wrong tariff all this time and that far from being in debt to them my account has actually been in CREDIT all this time. They have issued me with fresh bills going back three years which show this.
8. After seeing my credit file, which they have now wrecked, I have of course written to them demanding that they remove all the bad scores they have put on there and I shall be calling the credit file when the office opens, but I am so angry I feel sick. I am in fragile health at best and this has really pushed me close to the edge.

The repercussions of their dishonesty and uncaring attitude have had an appalling effect on me, what lenders must think of me and all my plans.

I am sure they will refuse to change anything on my report so does anyone have any advice for what I can do to repair the damage please? I am not sure there is even a facility for adding your own notes to the credit file anymore - its all on line and there doesn't seem to be this facility available anymore although I shall ask the CRA of course.

Thank you - sorry this is so long.

Norman_Castle

http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/debt-faqs/how-do-i-dispute-an-item-on-my-credit-report.html

"Consumers have a right to dispute inaccurate information listed on their credit reports and have all errors corrected. They should begin by asking the relevant creditor to investigate the issue. If the disputed information is determined to be incorrect, the creditor must revise its internal records and inform the credit reference agencies of the correction."

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

You state you pay by Standing Order, is that correct? or is it Direct Debit? The latter being the normal method of payment. They don't mention payment by standing order in 'ways to pay', albeit you can set up a payment plan by negotiation.

http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/household/your-account/bills-and-payments/

Normally there is only one tariff for metered properties. However Anglian are unique in that they have a SoLow tariff(now being phased out) for low consumption households. I believe the householder had to apply for that tariff i.e. you were not automatically placed on that tariff.

It would be interesting to see the wording of the letter they have sent you. Have they admitted you had been placed on the wrong tariff and it was their error? or is that your interpretation?

Also what has been your annual consumption in cubic metres?

I suggest you contact the Consumer Council for Water

shinysquirrel

Ive just received my bill from portsmouth water, we are domestic house just 2 people and I'm a bit confused about the charges. They are as follows..standard non-household usage charged at 69.4p, wholesale standing charge £10.19 per annum, retail standing charge at £20.92 per annum and standing charge at £31.10 per annum. Having read the PW guides it is not clear if I should be paying all of these??

nelly74

Can anyone help ? Recently moved out of rented property that i had been in for over 10 years.One of 3 cottages on a farm. would get bills for waste removal. Not on mains had old broken/unkept septic tanks Now we have moved the landlords have given us a bill for water backdating 5 years ! Are we liable ? the landlord was very old school and disorganised. Feel they should have been more organised as they are reselling water from the tenanted farm

Thanks

PS sorry thought this was a post not a reply









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jammychao

Hi there,

I'm in the process of trying to mortgage but after doing a credit check on Experian I have found I have a bad credit history caused by a debt on our water bill, I pay £41.96 a month, my bill average's at £38 so I have been paying off the £500 debt I had from a previous address, currently only £220 debt left.

I have made each and every payment for the last 2 years at this address and I can prove that with my bank statements, but my credit history with Anglian water currently shows account balance of 0, six months and 12 month ago also 0 but the 9 months in-between 5 or 6 missed payments, this is clearly a lie and has caused me having a very poor credit score and NatWest have refused me a mortgage now, how can they get away with this?

I called Anglian water to find out what this is all about and they said it's because having a debt is against their rules and regs, so it is reported on my credit score in this manner, shurly you cant be serious?????

my head is spinning :money::money::money::money::money::money:

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.


The bottom line is that you still have an outstanding debt and apparently can only pay it back at about £4 a month; the original debt was £500 and ?? years later is still £220.






I don't know how deeply NatWest investigate mortgage applications; but it wouldn't give them much confidence in your financial situation that you can't, or won't, pay back a relatively small debt.