Just had first water bill and I dont understand it!

Uber

Hello all,

We have just received our first estimated water bill for the small 2 bedroom house we moved into recently. The bill (Welsh Water/unmeasured) was for £366.17 and was for the period 06/06/2006 (when we moved in) until 31/03/07.

I've just rung Welsh Water to arrange a direct debit to pay the amount and was told the payments would start as of the 1st August. Trouble is the monthly charge is £61.02 x 5 months.

I don't get it!

So this means we will be paying £305.10 for Water up until January but the bill stated £366.17 until the end of March. Am I wrong in thinking somethings amiss here?

Its a managed property and the water meter reading was given to Welsh Water by the letting agent so could there be a mistake somewhere there?

The house is only on a 6 month lease so we'll probably be moving out in December anyway - does that make a difference?

Basically it just seems alot of money per month to pay - we're essentially going to be paying £240 from now until December just for water! Did we move in at the wrong time of the year or something?! Can't wait for the council tax to kick in!

Cheers for any advice anyone can offer - even if its just to tell me to stop whining!

Cardew

How is it "unmeasured" and yet the "water meter reading was given to Welsh Water by the letting agent"?

How can you be charged for measured water to March 2007 when they don't know your consumption?

black-saturn

I would give them a proper reading if you can. This sounds well over estimated.

Uber

Thanks for the replies both.

Sorry i'm getting confused myself here. There was no reading given to Welsh Water by the letting agents as it is indeed unmeasured - sorry about that, this is all new to me still!

I've just spoken to Welsh Water again asking them to explain the bill and they said :

- Their payment period runs from April - January

- The rate is based on the rateable value of the house (off the top of my head this was 182 I think)

They explained the charges are for the period up until the end of this financial year - I argued that we would only be in the property until the end of November this year and their response was that all monies overpaid would be refunded or credited into another account with them. Fair enough if they do actually do it but it all still seems a bit excessive!

The way I see it by the time we move out we would have paid them £300 (which includes Decembers payment as im guessing we will have to settle up with them). Whereas in actual fact the total cost should be more like £216 (based on the full bill amount of £360 divided by 10 months). So they should be refunding us £84 - does that sound right?

Even then though £36 a month seems too much for a poxy little 2 bedroom house - our parents pay less than that for their 4 bedroom houses!