Does this water bill seem expensive to you?

lukejedwards

I live in a 1 bedroom flat with my girlfriend in Margate. It used to be part of one big house, but has only been converted into a flat within (I assume) the last year or so. We live above a shop, and there's another flat next door to us, but we have been assured by our landlady that all three 'properties' including the shop (if you can call them that, since they are all part of the same house) are metred.

However, upon inquiring about our bills with Southern Water, they informed us that our flat had not been registered with them since the conversion into flats, meaning that the previous occupant didn't even pay any water bills whatsoever. We took the honest route - and duly set up an account with Southern Water.

But imagine our shock when we received a Southern Water bill this morning charging us £81.45 for our water, for only one month of usage. The amount of water we've apparently 'used' adds up to £27.69 (for 30 cubic metres of water), but the bulk of the billing seems to come from the 27.75 cubic metres of that amount which was apparently returned to the sewer. So, in other words, we've been charged an additional £47.12 for Wastewater Drainage costs, which seems extortionate to say the least.

I've checked on the Southern Water website, and it does state that the charge per cubic metre for Wastewater Drainage in a metred property is 169.80p (so if you multiply that with 27.75 cubic metres of water it all adds up), but I sincerely doubt that it's even humanly possible for my girlfriend and I to use that much water in such a little space of time. After all, this bill seems at least three times larger than we were expecting, so I smell a rat.

Do you think it's possible that there may be a fault with our meter or that we're paying for somebody else's water? I can't see any other reason for such an astronomically high bill.

Help, anyone?

Gothicfairy

Southern water is not the cheapest going but there are several things you can do to check the amounts
~IS the bill based on actual readings ?

If you turn off the stop tap in your flat does the meter still go round ?

If the water company had no idea about the flats what meter are they charging you on?

Is there 3 meters in the property IE 2 for the flats and 1 for the shop ?

What is the meter serial number on your bill> where is that meter ?

All these things need to be looked at before you go back to them as it will help you work out what is being said and what is happening