Cheaper water bill because i have a water butt?

50Twuncle

I get a 20% reduction in sewerage charges - due to a statement made 10 years ago - in that I have a large garden and much of the rainfall falls on the garden rather than going down the drains - I don't think that this option is available nowadays though ?

ariba10

ziggyman99 wrote: »

Yeah I bet you wipe with one sheet of toilet paper and use both sides....

But I am not on here asking, "How to clear my debts"

ziggyman99

ariba10 wrote: »

But I am not on here asking, "How to clear my debts"

Neither am I

ariba10

Who said you were?

duggo1

I'm with United Utilities and get about £3 a month of the wastewater charge as we have two water butts connected to both downpipes.
Someone had to come out and assess it before we got the discount.

xbrenx

Waits for pictures to appear of someone who's completely filled their garden with water butts! hahaha

Recyc-all

Hi people
i've been argueing with southern water about this issue and a few others for about 8 months now. I am trying to get them to take me to court so as a consumer i can challange there charges for the services they don't provide in a court of law.
There really reluctant at the moment but i have just been told that they will reduce people's water bills(surface water drainage only) if you can prove you have water butts and that the over flow goes onto your garden and not down their drain. I have been told that this will be in wrighting and that i should get it in the next few day's. As soon as it turns up i will post a copy of it on here so every body can do the same.
:T

Cardew

Recyc-all wrote: »

Hi people
i've been argueing with southern water about this issue and a few others for about 8 months now. I am trying to get them to take me to court so as a consumer i can challange there charges for the services they don't provide in a court of law.
There really reluctant at the moment but i have just been told that they will reduce people's water bills(surface water drainage only) if you can prove you have water butts and that the over flow goes onto your garden and not down their drain. I have been told that this will be in wrighting and that i should get it in the next few day's. As soon as it turns up i will post a copy of it on here so every body can do the same.
:T

This has been covered before.

Whislt I think the whole Surface Water drainage(SWD) charging saga is stupid and should be scrapped, I doubt if you will win.

The weakness in your case is that water butts are not a permanent fixture. Having got your exemption from the SWD charge, you can simply remove the butts.

I could put a bucket under each down pipe and say I empty it regularly.

The water company cannot be expected to inspect millions of homes on a regular basis to see if the butts are still in place. Also butts if not used correctly can become a stagnant health hazzard.

In any case it is not the water companies you have to persuade, but the Regulator Ofwat. The water companies don't care if you, and all other customers, pay SWD or not. They are allowed to make £xxmillion profit by the Regulator and if they lose income from SWD they can raise other charges to compensate.

savemoney

I have two large 190 litre water butts and whilst they get used a lot they rarely full in Summer but that said they dont really get used in Winter

Recyc-all

Cardew wrote: »

This has been covered before.

Whislt I think the whole Surface Water drainage(SWD) charging saga is stupid and should be scrapped, I doubt if you will win.

The weakness in your case is that water butts are not a permanent fixture. Having got your exemption from the SWD charge, you can simply remove the butts.

I could put a bucket under each down pipe and say I empty it regularly.

The water company cannot be expected to inspect millions of homes on a regular basis to see if the butts are still in place. Also butts if not used correctly can become a stagnant health hazzard.

In any case it is not the water companies you have to persuade, but the Regulator Ofwat. The water companies don't care if you, and all other customers, pay SWD or not. They are allowed to make £xxmillion profit by the Regulator and if they lose income from SWD they can raise other charges to compensate.

Athough i agree with some of what you say, there is some that i don't.
British law has juristiction over OFWAT and is able to decide whether something is fair and just for the consumer. As i have to trust the water company on the guess work it uses to bill me, surely it is only fair and just that they trust me to water my garden?
Water authorities already inspect millions of homes to check the metor's so no problem there.
As for being restricted on investment, i beleive this is flawed as well and will be asking the courts to look at this to.
If a company is restricted on investment, it will only invest in projects that make the system tick over or make them profit. They will never invest in any other activity as this is not conjusive to a sustainable business.
So to restrict investment pollutes my environment, because they will never sort out sewage/stormwater overflow systems. I want a court to tell me this is fair and just for a consumer that has to live in that environment that is polluted.
And thirdly i want the water company to garauntee that it deals with 100% of my waste and that none of it is able to be released through storm water overflows. If it can't do this then how can it charge me for treating 100% of my waste when it can't garauntee that it does?
It can't even garauntee that 92.5% of my water returns to them through the sewer anyway even when they have a meter that is able to measure sewage on a literage scale. They use this meter to measure sewage from sceptic tanker's delivering to their plants so they know how much to charge for the dumping.
The water companies have it all there way at present and i want a court of law to tell me this is fair and just from a consumer point of veiw not OFWAT.
I do not have a problem paying a higher price for my water if i knew that evrything was measured properly and not guess work and that they weren't polluting my environment.
So in short i want a british court of law to tell me that it is fair and just that i have to pay a company that pollutes my environment, that bills me on guess work when it doesn't have too and is leagally allowed to charge me for a service that it doesn't provide.
I can talk better than i write sorry for any mistakes, i'm sure you get the picture.