Nice Xmas Gift... South East/Southern Water

dfarry

Hi all in Oct. we moved into a new house... it's a four bed in Kent.

We informed the local water company but then started getting reminders that we hadn't registered our details.... we have only just realised that we have two companies one to supply water and one for sewage.

Our water supply is unmetered and we've been told that it is based on the rateable value of the property which according to the bill is "237", and a unit rate for supply of 0.741, but we have no idea what that means and how the bill is calculated.

What we do know however is that our water bills have now increased from £260pa in Thames Waters area (for our 3 bed house) to £550 combined in the new area. So despite the same amount of usage typically we are getting screwed just because the house is a bit bigger. This seems totally unjustified, is there anything I can do to appeal against this please?

Gothicfairy

dfarry wrote: »

This seems totally unjustified, is there anything I can do to appeal against this please?

In a word..No. The Rateable Value was set many years ago by the district valuer for the inland revenue and it is no longer used for anything other then water.
You can of course have a meter fitted which means you will then only pay for what you use.

dfarry

Hmmm is there anyway I can check that the rateable value they are using is correct (in a similar way as you can for council tax).

Even if we go over to a meter we will still be paying £200 for sewage (I'm assuming that cannot be metered).

DVardysShadow

dfarry wrote: »

Even if we go over to a meter we will still be paying £200 for sewage (I'm assuming that cannot be metered).

Sewerage is metered on the simple basis that what goes in comes out - or 95% ish does. So once your water is metered, your sewerage is also metered

dfarry

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Sewerage is metered on the simple basis that what goes in comes out - or 95% ish does. So once your water is metered, your sewerage is also metered

Good point... I'll have to think about metering and get an idea how much it would cost to change etc.

Cardew

dfarry wrote: »

Hi all in Oct. we moved into a new house... it's a four bed in Kent.

We informed the local water company but then started getting reminders that we hadn't registered our details.... we have only just realised that we have two companies one to supply water and one for sewage.

Our water supply is unmetered and we've been told that it is based on the rateable value of the property which according to the bill is "237", and a unit rate for supply of 0.741, but we have no idea what that means and how the bill is calculated.

What we do know however is that our water bills have now increased from £260pa in Thames Waters area (for our 3 bed house) to £550 combined in the new area. So despite the same amount of usage typically we are getting screwed just because the house is a bit bigger. This seems totally unjustified, is there anything I can do to appeal against this please?

If your Rateable Value(RV) is £237 it is is fixed and there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change it. You cannot appeal.

Your water supply bill is 237 x £0.741 = £175.62

Your sewerage bill will be 237 x ???

Sewerage costs are usually quite a bit more that water supply.

They usually reduce the sewerage by 10% to allow for water that does not enter the sewer - eg garden watering.

You might pay additionally for surface water drainage(water from gutters etc entering the sewer system)

It will cost you nothing to have a meter fitted. If a meter turns out to be more expensive then you will be allowed to return to your old charging method as long as you do so within 12 months.(24 months with some companies)

dfarry

Ah OK, well that sounds like the way to go then.

I forgot to mention that as well as the standing charge for South East Water (water supply) there is a standing charge of 58.00??
and this equals an amount of £25.90. So for water supply alone for the period 20/10/2009 - 31/03/2009 is £104.33 and then today we've been told that by Southern Water that they need another £142 for sewage, over the same period.

Cardew

The total cost per £1 of a property's RV is anything from £2 to £4.50 depending where you live in UK.

So for a house with a RV of £237 in the South West you would be paying over £1,000 pa.

dfarry

GULP!!! how can these companies justify charges like that... are they really investing that heavily in their water mains, treatment works etc... or are the shareholders getting a very nice return.

Cardew

dfarry wrote: »

GULP!!! how can these companies justify charges like that... are they really investing that heavily in their water mains, treatment works etc... or are the shareholders getting a very nice return.

The charges are very tightly controlled by the Regulator(ofwat)

We have a very old water/sewerage infrastructure - Victorian in many places - that we are paying to slowly modernise and pay shareholders for the assets(our assets) that the Government sold to the companies.

Blame Maggie Thatcher.

yakky58

Go with a meter at least you can control the cost better. Do a simple test of opening a drain and put a house in the gutter and see if the water goes down the drain. If it does you pay surface drainage. I did that on mine and found it didn't but Southern Water had been charging me for 10 years assuming it did. Funnily enough they don't have to pay back the over charge!

I also get charged something called Highway drainage. They spent over £1m updating the local drainage on the village street. It still floods and they say we need additional work so we may have to pay more.

My Water bill (Portsmouth Water) is £102 pa
My Sewerage bill (Southern Water) is £333 pa

If I have a meter and the water bill stays the same my sewage will be only £95 pounds so I save over £200 pa. I'd seriously look at having a meter. You can do a quick check in a spreadsheet on what your water bill be. Southern Water charge 92% of the water used.

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.388

Above is a link to the calculator.