Am I being hideously ripped off??

DaniAmi

Hi!

My partner & I had a financial crisis this morning...something which has prompted us to trawl through our accounts, direct debits etc etc. On doing so, I noticed we are paying £30.23 to Anglian Water monthly as well as £36.83 to Essex & Suffolk.
I was under the impression that one was water, one sewerage. But even so, seems a bit steep?!

I looked on uswitch, about getting a meter & was presented with a mini calculation asking me for current totals to establish if we could make a saving. Now, can uswitch be right in telling us we could save over £500 a year by switching to a meter?? Surely that means we have been overpaying for some time??

Can anyone help? I'm just trying to figure out if what we're paying at the moment is steep, or if in fact, its normal.

Any ideas greatly appreciated...and if uswitch turns out to be right we'll be £50 better off each month which may not sound like a lot but it bloomin well is for us right now!!

McKneff

have you checked with the water companies what you are paying for.
Dont assume that one is sewage and one is water. You may be paying twice for the same water. Have a look on your bills at least. I pay yorkshire water for both on one bill at £35 a month.

Do you live in a flat or a house. Some flats cant have a meter but that can be remedied by requesting an assessment.
But if your in a house and there is only the two of you get a meter as soon as you can. You can monitor it and if you dont come out with major savings in the first year you can have it taken out but i bet you dont.

DaniAmi

That was my fear....that we're paying 2 companies for water. So, how do I go about changing? Do I just cancel one of them?

McKneff

You would need to contact them , if indeed youre paying twice then one of them needs to refund you. It may not be so but just in case. You would then need to cancel one of them, dont just cancel the dd, they will still chase you for money. When its been established you can just choose one of them to install your meter for you. But like i say, check both bills to see what youre actually paying for.
Good luck

cajef

DaniAmi wrote: »

I was under the impression that one was water, one sewerage.

That is correct in East Anglia water is supplied by Essex & Suffolk Water and sewerage is billed by Anglian Water, if you look at your bills it is explained on them.

We only moved from East Anglia six months ago and our last direct debits per month were approximately half the amount you are paying, but these were calculated by actual usage as we were on a water meter.

flea72

to be paying nearly £70 a month for water/sewer then you must be in a house larger than the needs of just two adults, as all houses were rated on value/size

the quickest way to to work out if a meter would be better than rates, is if you have more bedrooms than people living in the house

However, if this is a property you have bought to live in long term, and the number of people living in the house is going to increase in the not too distant future, then you might be better off long term paying rates, because you have 12m from a meter being installed to ask them to remove it, and go back to rateable values. All well and good having cheaper water bills now, but when kids arrive, etc and youre stuck on a meter, doing 10+ loads of washing a week, and bathing the little ones daily, your metered bills soon mount up

hth Flea

Cardew

DaniAmi wrote: »

Hi!

My partner & I had a financial crisis this morning...something which has prompted us to trawl through our accounts, direct debits etc etc. On doing so, I noticed we are paying £30.23 to Anglian Water monthly as well as £36.83 to Essex & Suffolk.
I was under the impression that one was water, one sewerage. But even so, seems a bit steep?!

I looked on uswitch, about getting a meter & was presented with a mini calculation asking me for current totals to establish if we could make a saving. Now, can uswitch be right in telling us we could save over £500 a year by switching to a meter?? Surely that means we have been overpaying for some time??

Can anyone help? I'm just trying to figure out if what we're paying at the moment is steep, or if in fact, its normal.

Any ideas greatly appreciated...and if uswitch turns out to be right we'll be £50 better off each month which may not sound like a lot but it bloomin well is for us right now!!

The average consumption is 60 cubic metres per person per year.

Using that as a guide, look up the website for both companies and see what that consumption would cost.

e.g. if a couple, 120 x £y for water and 120 x £z for sewerage + standing charges.

In East Anglia I doubt if that would come to 50% of your present bill.

The beauty is that if for any reason a meter wasn't cheaper, you have 2 years to revert back to your current billing system.