Backdated bill - Severn Trent

LucyANN77

I moved into his rented flat 3 years ago and have always paid my bills.

I received a new water bill from Anglian Water when I moved in which I set up a direct debit for.

This week I arrived home to find a letter from Severn Trent 'To the occupier' saying that as they believed the flat to be empty, they were cutting off the water supply.

I rang them straight away and said that no the flat wasn't unoccupied and why if I was paying Anglian Water were they getting involved. They said that I pay Anglian for the water and that Severn Trent for the sewerage which is fine. I have no problem in paying any future bills for this and do not dispute this, however, they have told me that I have to pay the back dated bills as well.

Well, I was absolutely horrified by this and told them that. I said that it wasn't my fault it had not been paid as they had never sent me a bill the whole time I was there !!! They said that I should have known to pay them so I said how when I didn't know they had any involvement with the property !!!

I knew that I was not getting anywhere with the person I was speaking so ended the conversation. I am now trying to compile a letter to them now disputing the back dated fee.

Am i in my rights to disupte this and can they really charge me for the last 3 years when they haven't sent me a bill before ?

Gothicfairy

LucyANN77 wrote: »

Am i in my rights to dispute this and can they really charge me for the last 3 years when they haven't sent me a bill before ?

Of course you can dispute it but it does not mean you will win or even that you will get a reduction. Water companies are legally allowed to backdate 6 years ( plus in some cases) So they have done nothing wrong.
The position at the moment is that it is the householders responsibly to find out who supplies them and to inform the water companies of a change.
Severn Trent will however offer a payment plan if that helps and can supply the number for the trustfund if that would be better

Sorry it is not nicer news

JCS1

Why are water companies are allowed to back date bills for 6 years? STW's code of conduct relating to billling states that bills will be sent out every 6 months. If they breach their own code, how can they try and enforce payment?

deanos

Even tho you are supplied by two different company's you should only get one bill, then the billing company pass on the payment to the other one IIRC

Does the bill from Anglian state sewage & water charges or just one charge ?

Gothicfairy

JCS1 wrote: »

Why are water companies are allowed to back date bills for 6 years? STW's code of conduct relating to billling states that bills will be sent out every 6 months. If they breach their own code, how can they try and enforce payment?

Just the way it is I am afraid. The government created different rules for the water companies and back billing was part of that.

Unlike the rest where they have a duty to bill you correctly etc the water companies can and do lay a lot of the blame on the customer and that means they get away with it all the time.

Problem is, there is nothing really you can do as OFWAT have agreed the ruling and that means there is not higher body to complain too.

LucyANN77

Thanks all for your comments. The Anglian Water bill does not mention sewerage on it so I do accept that the fee is due but I will dispute the backdated fee till the cows come home !!!

It never occured to me to check before if Anglian were responsible for everything because I have never heard of this before where one company does the sewerage and one for the water.

I have read STW's code of practive and it does clearly say that they send out bills every 6 months which quite clearly hasn't happened in this instance !!!

Their arguement of me knowing I should know to pay them is rubbish when I have not received a bill previously. How did I know who to pay ???

Gothicfairy

Whilst I wish you every luck with disputing the bill I don't think it will make much difference I am afraid. As the water companies are within their rights to backbill they don't tend to back down if they have already done it.

The arguement about the code of practice will not really get you very far as they have not broken them.

Also they do take the view that it is down to the customer to find out who to pay, either through the letting agent/ landlord / local council or estate agent/solicitor.
Same as you would have to work out which Gas and electric company supply your property (even if you are going to switch you tend to have to pay the first company up to that point) it might even be that Gas is by one company and Electric by another so you would at that point need to work it out yourself anyway.

JCS1

There's nothing in their code of conduct that says "we reserve the right to back date bills". What is the point of having a published code of conduct that they don't follow?

deanos

Think you are missing the point, the code of conduct means they will send a bill every 6 months when the property is occupied, as far as they knew it was unoccupied so no bill was produced, if you didn't tell them then how are they to know ?

JCS1

deanos wrote: »

Think you are missing the point, the code of conduct means they will send a bill every 6 months when the property is occupied, as far as they knew it was unoccupied so no bill was produced, if you didn't tell them then how are they to know ?

My case is slightly different to the OP. STW knew the property was occupied (proven via tenancey agreement and then sale agreement as they were the landlord!) and didn't send an invoice for ten years. The property has also been on free supply for the past 30+ years so it was not expected either.

LucyANN77

Many thanks for all your advice. Thought you would like to know that STW have backed down and agreed to send me a new bill from April this year !!!

They emailed back at first saying basically they were having none of it because legally they can back date for 6 years. I emailed back saying that maybe the case but they have broken their own code of practice and that I wanted to make an offical complaint. That seemed to do the trick because then I got the reply saying that they would backdate it till April this year instead !!!

I wonder how many people would have just paid and not argued !!!

Thanks again x