compulsory water meter

Robert5988

heatherw_01 wrote:

I have the same problem. The water company said houses built after 1990 cannot have the water meter removed.... my house was built in 1850!

They seem to fob me off with different excuses why I cannot get rid of it.

May we ask why you wish to get rid of your water meter?

heatherw_01

As it is quite expensive and I am sure it would be cheaper for me to not have one.

WelshConsumer

I agree with Paul - If it was fitted before you took occupancy then you have no right to change it. HOwever if it was fitted after you took up occupancy then you have 12 months within which you can get it removed. Write a formal letter of complaint seeking its removal. In the event that they do not give you satifaction take it up with the regulator.

hollie.weimeraner

I have just had this years water bill and am now considering having a meter fitted. I spoke to Yorkshire Water this morning who stated that they will fit a meter free of charge but if I don't get on with it I can revert to paying anual water rates within the 12 month period.
They DO NOT remove the meter if I revert to water rates. The meter stays in the property but I would revert to old system of rates.
Any new occupier would automatically go onto a water meter when I sold the property.

MyUserNamesTaken

Paul_Varjak wrote:

My understanding on water meters is that when one is installed you ahve the right to switch back to unmetered within the following 12 months. However, this right only exists for the occupier who had the meter installed.

If you move out and a new occupier comes in they cannot switch back to unmetered (even if the meter has not been in for 12 months)

What was the reason that a meter was fittedin your property the day you moved in? Was it at the request of the previous occupier? If so, I would suggest that the water company had no right to fit as yhou were now the occupier and they did not have your consent to fit it.

I can explain this, having worked for Essex and Suffolk Water. There are areas which come under "Compulsory Metering", which means that whenever there's a change of occupier, the water company has a right to fit a water meter. They do not need to ask permission of the new owner, as that person does not become a customer until an account has been set up in their name. The water company won't bill that customer until a water meter has been fitted. Anyone living in the SS postcode area (Southend, Basildon, etc) is affected by this, as that is E&SW's Compulsory Metering area for now. The only way to avoid it is to either not move house, or to rent. They are only fitting meters in houses (not flats) which are being bought and sold, unless requested to fit one by a current customer.

By the sounds of it, the OP has just bought a house in a CM area, thus has no right or say about having a water meter fitted. However, he should have been informed by the solicitor dealing with her house purchase that the property is in a CM area. This is happening all over the country, with the various water companies forcing CM on new customers postcode by postcode. When E&SW has finished with the SS postcode area, they will open up a new CM area, determined by postcode. The same applies to all the other Water companies. The idea is to get everyone on a meter eventually.

If you've moved into a property that already has a meter fitted, you cannot request that it be removed, nor can you ask to revert back to the old system of rateable value (water rates).

If you request a water meter, you can ask to revert back to RV within 12 months of the meter being fitted, but the meter will not be removed. That way, when you come to sell your house, the next owner will have no choice but to be billed according to actual usage (i.e. by water meter).

MyUserNamesTaken

WelshConsumer wrote:

I agree with Paul - If it was fitted before you took occupancy then you have no right to change it. HOwever if it was fitted after you took up occupancy then you have 12 months within which you can get it removed. Write a formal letter of complaint seeking its removal. In the event that they do not give you satifaction take it up with the regulator.

Sorry to have to correct you, but you are wrong. Many water meters are fitted after the new occupier has moved in. If the property is in a CM area, it will have a water meter fitted after the property has been sold, regardless of whether the new occupier has moved in. The new occupier has no say in the matter, and cannot ask for the meter to be removed. The way the water companies get around this is by not billing the customer for any water supply until after the meter has been fitted, thus not forming a contract of supply with the customer until it's too late. In other words, you're not a customer until your meter is fitted, even if you have just moved in and are using the water supply.

Having dealt with many angry people calling up about this particular subject, I know what I'm talking about. Many people aren't told by their solicitor when buying a new house that it is in a CM area, which means they only find out when they contact us to tell us that they've moved in. We then tell them a meter is being fitted and that they won't be billed for any water usage until that meter has been installed. As you can imagine, this tends to lead to a lot of angry customers. By law, water companies have the right to fit water meters in CM areas. Should the OP choose to contact OFWAT, he'll be told the same thing.

Maq_3

Is there any way to find out whether an area is a Compulsory Metering area?

dougk_2

I think water meters are fair and you get charged for what you use. I think it would be sensible if it was compulsory to have them fitted in every house.

I saved about £150 year by having a water meter fitted! Just teaches you not to be so wasteful. eg. use a bucket and sponge to wash the car rather than a hosepipe and not to water your lawn.... no point it grows back anyway and the more you water the more you need to cut!

Good money (and time) saving tip - have a water meter installed!

Silverwinglet

I disagree that water meters are fair:
I am allergic to chlorine and to fluoride. Moreover fluoride is a drug formerly used to lower an overactive thyroid: I have an underactive thyroid.

I need to use a filter to removes these poisons, which I did not choose to put in my water and which are medicating me against my will. The only filter I have found which does the job is a reverse osmosis filter which renders 2% of the total usable and 98% goes down the drain!

Moreover the consequence of using the filter is that as well as the undesirables, it filters out essential minerals, and so the water leaches out those nutrients from my body which means I have to buy supplements to counteract this effect.

I am curently living in a metered house and soon to move to another metered property. I do not want a water meter, I am not being compensated for the damage these chemicals are causing nor for the extra financial burden I am incurring as a result.

I can't see anything fair in this it at all.

Cardew

Silverwinglet wrote:

I disagree that water meters are fair:
I am allergic to chlorine and to fluoride. Moreover fluoride is a drug formerly used to lower an overactive thyroid: I have an underactive thyroid.

I need to use a filter to removes these poisons, which I did not choose to put in my water and which are medicating me against my will. The only filter I have found which does the job is a reverse osmosis filter which renders 2% of the total usable and 98% goes down the drain!

Moreover the consequence of using the filter is that as well as the undesirables, it filters out essential minerals, and so the water leaches out those nutrients from my body which means I have to buy supplements to counteract this effect.

I am curently living in a metered house and soon to move to another metered property. I do not want a water meter, I am not being compensated for the damage these chemicals are causing nor for the extra financial burden I am incurring as a result.

I can't see anything fair in this it at all.

Whilst not being unsympathetic to your medical problem, you could look at this another way.

Water is a resource that we all pay for and effectively you are saying that we should subsidise you for the 98% of water that(literally) goes down the drain.

There are many people with medical conditions that require rooms in their property to be at a higher temperature than ‘normal’. An extension of your argument is that they should have ‘un-metered’ gas/electricity.

The argument over fluoride in water has been well rehearsed and I wonder if there is not a hidden agenda in your post. The experts are divided on the merits/demerits of fluoride, but the majority think it advantageous.

Is bottled water not an option for you?