Paying water bill by direct debit

kitchensink_2

I moved into a new house a few months ago and have finally got round to checking all the bill providers etc

I phoned our water company today (severn trent) to ask about paying direct debit monthly as this seems to get me the best deals on gas/elect. I was told this would infact be more expensive than paying a bill once every 6 months - how does this work??? Wondering if anyone has any experience of this and thought might be useful for others to know.

Gothicfairy

That is not possible.

There is no discount for water by direct debt so all that happens is they either work out your average daily consumption (est usage) and split that into 11 installements to cover the bill you will get twice a year ( if on a meter) or you have your yearly bill based on Rateable value and that is split into 8 installements but if you moved in at the begining of the year you will have some of 2009- 2010 bill to pay before starting on 2010-2011 which might be why is seems more expensive.

But as I said it is not possible to pay more with a DD as you will still get your bill and that will show the amount used, all a payment plan does is split that into easier bits based on the answers to some questions and the amount they think you will use.

glider3560

AFAIK, no water providers offer any discounts for any payment methods.

I'm thinking of coming off direct debit for my water and just paying the bill every 6 months. Then at least the money will be in my account earning a little interest.

kitchensink_2

thanks for the replies.

You're right that there is no discount for paying direct debit, but i was hoping that by paying dd i could spread out costs and could have a better estimate of monthly outgoings rather than having 2 bills.

Gothic - the man i spoke to on the phone definitely stated that it would be more expensive to pay by direct debit! I couldn't understand this as I thought, like you, payments are just spread out. I'm going to call again tomorrow and check it out further. I think he must have got it wrong.

Gothicfairy

I can say 100% that the information given was wrong. It is not possible with the way STW bill. All a payment plan is is a monthly figure based on your usage split into 11 payments to cover 2 bills.
They got it wrong, give me a yell if you have problems and I will see what I can find out but you can apply for a DD on their web site
www.stwater.co.uk..
set up your account there and you can do all the things you want to without the phone bill

kitchensink_2

excellent. thanks for that. Just spoke to someone else at stw and they confirmed what you've said. shame i didn;t see your post first to miss out on the phone bill, but did get useful info on how bill is worked out.

Gothicfairy

Shame you had to call again as I could have given you that information for free as well...lol

Glad it is sorted out though.

roosterpotatoes

Our water supplier is United Utilities (North West England) and we get £5 discount off our yearly bill if we pay DD, I pay £11.48 a week (shocking I know!!) but it applies if you do DD monthly or quarterly, so it may be worth reading the small print

Gothicfairy

It is not legal to offer a discount on water bills. So that should be taken to OFWAT

snoman

I strongly advise against paying by DD if you have recently had a meter installed. In my case, the DD payments for the first year were reasonable, based on estimated water usage. However, in the second year and without warning, the DD payments reverted to the much higher rate that had been in force prior to the meter installation. When I discovered this trick, I promptly cancelled the DD and have subsequently paid twice yearly. I always check my meter readings before paying as the below-ground meter is not easy to read and there have been mistakes.

Gothicfairy

You would have had warning as you would have got 2 bills to show the balance carried forward and you should have got the new dd schedule.
I am not sure that there is any trick, more a case of your old payments not meeting the usage.
Payment plans on metered accounts can not revert back to RV plans as they are set up in totally different ways.

But you are right about checking your meter readings (everyone should do this)