£2500 for 1 Years water!!!

Jole_F

In June this year I recieved a £2500 water bill from United Utilities for 1 years worth of water(1 bedroom flat). In the months that have passed I have gone above and beyond trying to find a solution to this problem with the company and even upped my direct debit to £40 a month.

. We had a cross supply check
. A leak check
. And have checked for internal leaks.

All the above proved that the meter was only supplying our property (no leaks either) and the only thing left to test is to whether or not the meter is faulty which I have to pay £70 for. If it comes back and it is not faulty then I will be apparently liable for the bill.

I have spoken to the Consumer Council for Water and they say that they have never seen a meter fail and have advised against it. We will be moving out of the property in January when our lease is up and just don't know what to do.

Since February our daughter (born 06/02/09) has been in hospital 40-50 miles away from where we live and my partner has spent all but 1 night a week at the hospital accomodation, and I only stay at the property 3 nights a week. We also had a period of 7 weeks out of the property when our daughter had an op in London.

We have hardly been in the property and are going to be charged a fortune!!! Can anyone help?

Money_maker

I would get the meter checked, myself. There's a first time for everything.

gaz_jones

I'd definitely get it checked. £2500 is ridiculous! I can't imagine how much water you would have had to have used to spend that much. Must be something faulty in the line somewhere.

Gothicfairy

The meters are not tested by the water company. The companies who test them get paid if the meter is faulty or not and believe it or not some do come back faulty.
If that is the case your £70 will be refunded to you and if the choice is £70 or 2k I know which one I would pick.
If they have checked your supply and leaks etc then I am not sure what else they can do but one thing springs to mind..How is the meter being read ? Are they reading the meter proper or is it a touch pad ?
Was your start read an actual read or an est ?
Can you check the amount of water used ?
How many dials does the meter have and is that the same as the bill ?

LeeSouthEast

£208 a month on water? For mostly 1 part-time resident? In their dreams. Check the meter.

DVardysShadow

Check it yourself to start with? Take a reading, draw 10 litres [10 kg] check new reading.

Zazen999

Aye - and is the meter moving when you have all the water turned off?

deanos

Gothicfairy wrote: »

The meters are not tested by the water company.

They are around here, the chap goes round with a test rig in the back of the van.

Something is definately wrong, what does the bill actually say, has it been estimated now or in the past ?

How old is the meter you can tell from the serial number its will start with the year 09M for example for 2009, or 97M for 1997

Gothicfairy

Deanos,
I was referring to the independent test that costs around £60 - £100 depending on your area. Where the meter is removed totally and replaced with a new one, the old meter is then taken to either the company that made it or another party and they test the meter. If the meter is faulty the new meter then remains in place and the bill re worked based on adc from the new meter and the charge refunded.
If the meter is shown to be working then a full detailed letter is supplied and the charges remain payable.. However with that letter you might be able to go to your insurance company for a leak on a appliance or pipe work in or under the house etc. (this is available in all areas as it is a legal requirement to allow customers to check if their meter is faulty. Hence the amount is paid by the customer )

Zazen.
As they have leak tested and checked for a cross supply they would have done a flow test..IE turned the water supply off and checked for movement.
However it might well be worth turning all the appliances that use water off and checking again as movement there would show a internal leak.

Until we have answers to the questions asked we can't really help though so it is really down to Jole now I guess.

lemontree

I live in a 2 bed semi and pay 250 pounds per year. My Son and his family live in a large 4 bed detached and pay 700 pounds per year.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The_Leveller_3

If you have push button toilets, these are notorious for leaking, look at the back of the pan, place a bit of toilet paper there to check for very slow leaks. Sometimes these toilets can leak like mad.

Toilets with handles have siphons instead of valves and these never leak.