Water rates too high, how is it calculated?

GaryTravers

i am 20 years old and i have recently moved out of my parents place, into my own very small 1 bedroomed flat.

i had a water bill sent through, with water charges for dates before i had even been in the house, so after a few phone calls i got the dates adjusted and sorted.

so it went from 500 quid, now down to £408 :eek:

apparently i am still being absolutely ripped off.

someone on the phone at thames water said that the rates were calculated using the value of the home.....

so my tiny 1 bed. flat comes in at £408 while my parents 4 bedroomed semi comes in at around the £300 mark

also my nan in her tiny 1 bedroomed house, where she lives on her own, pays around £250.

any idea as to what i should do? they said they would re-calculate the bill but they only removed the rates from the previous owner, now im left with a £400 bill and to make things better, the bill is red.......

Cardew

Your bill is presumably based on the Rateable Value(RV) of your flat.
Every water company(e.g. Severn Trent, Thames Water etc) has a different charging structure and within each company's area there are different charging rates.

You can find the RV on your bill. All of the companies charge for Water, Sewerage and have standing charges for water & sewarage.

If your RV was, say, £200 you would pay:

200 times X for water
200 times Y for sewerage (this could be one of two different rates depending if you are charged for surface water drainage.
Standing Charges.

The obvious answer is to get a meter fitted as this will certainly save loads of money. However it is not always possible to fit one in a flat. If that is the case contact your water company as most have a scheme where you are charged a 'typical' rate if it is not practical to have a meter fitted.