Paying by monthly direct debits

bach230

Hi all, just a quick question re. Severn Trent water bills…

We have a meter in our cupboard under our stairs which shows us how much water we use. We don’t have anyone come into the house to check this so I assume our water use is measured from the road.
I know that my nan has a water meter in her house which gets checked and she has been able to set up monthly direct debits with Severn Trent to pay her water bills more conviently. This is something that I would like to do too as when we get a water bill it’s usually fairly large – at least £80-£90 for the quarter/6-monthly that they charge us for, which is something that some people can’t afford to pay straight off in one big hit if, like us, they struggle with money.
I did contact Severn Trent about this some time ago and I remember receiving a phone call from a foreign guy who I couldn’t really understand that well, telling us that this wasn’t possible, though whether he had understand my request or not, I don’t know.

Does anyone know if this is possible through Severn Trent or not? Or whether there is anything similar around at all that I can set up. Unfortunately my husband and I are not very good at putting money aside for things, we both have ISA’s and our own accounts along with a joint account but as I mentioned, we do struggle slightly for money so to put money aside for something like this is a bit of a nightmare.

Anyone got any suggestions at all please?

Nat

Hazzanet

https://myaccount.stwater.co.uk/utility/unregistered/payment/setupDirectDebit.do?menuPath=menus.homepage.My+Account.Unreg+Payments.Setup+Direct+Debit

Cardew

As indicated above you can pay by Direct Debit - Severn trent usually have the annual amount taken in 10 or 11 payments rather than 12.

If your meter is is in the house, it is very probable that you are having bills based on estimated meter readings. This is shown by an (E) next to the meter reading e.g. current reading 12345(E)

You need to check if your bill is based on estimated meter readings and check that reading against the actual meter reading. You could be in for a nasty shock - or a nice surprise.

bach230

just like to say thank you to you both for helping me out with this one. i have just successfully set up monthly direct debits for our water bill with severn trent. wish i'd have done it sooner though, so much for the peopl at severn trent telling me i couldn't do it.
i've just looked at my last water bill from june this year, so we could just be about to get another 6-monthly one, and it has an (M) next to our previous reading and a (P) next to our latest reading. it states at the bottom of our bill that the M is for an actual reading and the P is for "a reading based on your consumption is added to the account to reflect a change in the annual pence per cubic metre charge rate" so i assume that as there is no (E) next to the readings then these readings must be accurate, i will check them though, just in case

Cardew

The (P) is in fact an estimated reading on 1st April which was the date of the price increase.

If your bill was up to June, you should have had a (M) against the start date reading, a (P) against a reading on 01 April 2009 with the old price for that amount of water.

Then a start date of 01 April with the same meter reading with a (P) then a new reading in June with a (M) or (E) with the new price charged for the april/June amount of water/sewerage.