Reading water meter

sadfurry

I visit an old chap, lives alone, 1 bed flat, has water metered. His bill for 6 months was £164. He let me investigate a bit, as I thought this a little high.
For the 6 months Jan to July he had paid £150

He had a reading from Jan, and an estimate from July (the start of the 6 month bill he was about to pay).

Thought I'd read meter, check estimate. I had to get caretaker to show me what a water meter looked like, never seen one before, who would have thought those little squares in the ground are meters!

Decided too many spiders, rang husband to come and stick his hand down the hole to clear the dirt off the meter so we could read it, used torch, both read it.

Anyway, the reading we both saw (and we double checked the meter number, was the right meter definately) was over 50 units LESS than the supposed reading done by Severn trent 8 months ago in January.

Took me a 40 minute phone call to get them to agree to come and read this meter. Point blank refused for 35 mins, told me we had read it wrong, read the wrong meter, and they were never wrong, and no way could we get the meter read until next January. Wanted him to pay £33 a month to pay the bill.
I just kept on till I got an agreement they would come next week to read it.

This chap has one bath a week at most. He doesn't cook so has little washing up, and he does one load of laundry a week. No garden, no indoor plants, and he drinks bottled pop not tea/coffee. probably doesn't even brush his teeth but I didn't probe that far:)

Apart from waiting for the new meter read, any advice on what to do?

Cardew

I think you have done everything correctly. You might find out what was the reading before Jan.

Perhaps get a photo of the meter reading with a date stamp.

If you are correct(as I am sure you are) Severn Trent will give him a rebate

deanos

If he is in a block of flats i presume they are possibly all in one location the meter reader could have read the wrong one, or just guestimated it if he couldnt be bothered to read it, you get that sometimes if agency staff are used :mad:

Think ST are being very off with you saying that you have to wait until January customer sevice definately seems to be lacking there.

sadfurry

Good idea, have to read the meter again this week to make sure its not going backwards, so will try a photo, buts its over 2 foot down a dark hole but still, worth a try. I looked through his water bills for 2 years, the Jan 06 one was the only actual reading I could see.

Yes ST bloke was very offhand, but I remained polite while determined till he gave in.
The other thing that worries me is, yes all the meters were together in the ground, and so the other tenants might be the same, having supposed readings that actualy weren't (it can't have been read, it was so way off). In the 40 min phone call the bloke checked the other 7 tenants bills to see if it might be a mistaken read by them and couldn't find one in any way similar, so they can't even use that as a real excuse now.

And how many other people are having meter reads that aren't!!!!

Cardew

sadfurry wrote:

And how many other people are having meter reads that aren't!!!!

I am pretty certain that for Gas, Electricity, and water it happens quite a lot.

The utility firms engage agencies to read meters and I don't suppose it is a lifelong profession for the people these agencies employ.

As they are no doubt employed with some sort of quota to fill or on piecework, it must be a temptation to estimate and put this down as an actual reading. How many people would notice? and if the 'estimate' was pretty accurate, how many would complain?

It would require a pretty thorough investigation by the utility company to pin the blame on an individual.

deanos

I can assure you that reading the water meters is high priority as it is heavily regulated unlike gas and electricity and forms part of the targets that OFWAT require.

Trouble is as Cardew mentions companys get behind due to understaffing or sickeness and then agency guys are brought in , the dont get paid for travelling and will probably only do the job for a couple of weeks and are on crap pay so there is no incentive to get it right.

It is very easy to know who read what meter as they are are all logged as to who read what and when

sammyjammy

A water meter, by law has to be read once a year, if they still haven't been to read the meter it might be worth getting in touch with Age concern, a phonecall from them on behalf of the elderly gentleman may produce a quick result!

Sam

sadfurry

Hi, well i went back 2 weeks after the 40 min phone call, and no meter read. Rang again and was told the only note in file was that I had given an incorrect reading. *argghh*

I then had a 20 min heated call which ended with being told someone would come but NOT to read the meter, to check it was working. And that would be within 28 days. They would ring and make an appointment with me. The 28 days would start from the 24th Aug when I first rang.

No-ones rung, but they do have another couple of days.

I couldn't take a photo, none came out clearly.

And age concern can't help, as I know I called him an old chap, but hes only 58, he has a mental health prob, but thanks for the thought

Was told the laws changed, and the meters have to be read twice a year now.

I've read the meter twice since 24th Aug, and its not going backwards, but is only registering about 1 - 2 units a week.

They made the meter check sound like a threat, said if it was working he would have to pay the bill. I pointed out I was happy with that, as if it is working they owe him money. And this time I went as far as to say, do you honestly expect me to believe that someone went out on january the 1st and read this meter when its so far out?

sadfurry

24th Sept came and went. Rang them on 27th and was told a meter inspection and meter read would be requested that day, no record on file that anything had happened prior to this.

Went today. All the poor bloke had was a NEW payment plan (which they promised was on hold till this was sorted). When I rang was told meter reader had gone out (not a meter inspector as I was informed 3 weeks ago!) on 20th Sept, and couldn't read the meter as there was condensation!!!!!!!! (I read it Sept 18th, it was fine then, and how come on 27th when i rang this wasn't on their system? )
So it had gone to Indesa(??can't quite recall name) to go and replace or repair the meter (wasn't this what I was told 3 weeks ago? Oh yes, it was)

BUT the date they had requested this from them was 4th Oct (how come when they supposedly couldn't read the meter on the 20th Sept? Does it take 2 weeks to send a request to this company??), and they have 14 days from then to come out. I said that was unacceptable, and eventually was told someone from meter fixers would ring me within 48 hours to arrange a time to come out. To either replace faulty meter, or replace top so they can see to read the meter.

I have already written a complaint to Severn Trent about their lack of help up to the 24th Sept. Should I write again adding this new stuff? Write to Ofwat? Or wait and see what happens? This man is really distressed about it now.

sadfurry

Thank you for your help, today we have a result......

1. Customer services giving man £40 compensation for what she said was unacceptable service (said was normally £20, but given the case she was giving £40)

2. Phone call this morning, and Integra man this evening! He found nothing wrong with meter, read it as 741, and wrote on report "meter reader must have taken an incorrect reading, customer incorrectly billed"

Thank you!

poorbabe

Excellent news!

That's given me the incentiive to read my water meter, assuming it is where I think it is!