Huge Water Bill

JoJo_Sparkly

:mad: I'm with Thames Water and have a meter, Last year I received a huge water bill - over £700:eek: . I rang Thames and said it just wasn't possible to have such a huge bill - spoke to a lovely lady who agreed with me that it seemed very high and would probably mean a leak on the mains pipe and they would investigate. My previous payments have all been around £18 without any problems. My monthly payment was fixed at £20 and a few weeks later an engineer came out and "listened" to the pipes. She said she couldn't hear any leaks but that again my water bill seemed very high. I the receved a lettter saying they had investigated and there was no leak, that it had to be an internal leak. I continued paying £20 all last year and didn't hear anymore from them. Last month I got this year's bill and they have simply carried forward the "outstanding amount" from last years and added this year's charges. My monthly payment has now gone up to £99 a month!!!! I rang Thames again and went through almost an identical conversation with someone who again said it sounded like there was a leak and they would investigate. A few days later I received a letter saying they'd investigate, however they have now taken £99 direct debit payment from my bank account.
There is only myself, my 10 year old son and, since January, my baby daughter in the house and we've been here for 4 years without any problems before. We don't have a swimming pool! All my previous bills have been around £150. Does anyone have any ideas what I should do now

Cardew

The implication of the letter stating that you had an internal leak is that it is your responsibility to fix it.

Whilst they should have spelt that out to you, it is clearly not within the remit of the water supply company to delve into your internal plumbing.

However if you didn't get it fixed, it will still be leaking and your bill will be as high this year - what are the meter readings?

Could a tap been have left on for weeks while you were on holiday - or something similar?

I would check your meter reading now and again in 24 hours time. With 3 in the house you would expect to use about 0.5 cubic meters a day(0.5 units)
Much more than this and you still have a leak.

If Thames Water are going to investigate, there is not much more you can do until the investigation is finished.

deanos

They should put your bill on hold while its investigated, did the inspector turn off your internal stop tap and look at the meter to see if its spinning ? This would suggest an external leak if its moving.

You havent got one of those large pools in your garden for the kiddies by any chance ?

JoJo_Sparkly

No pool and the bill this year has the 700 carried forward and the meter readings for this year which are roughly the same as other years - so if there was a leak internally surely the readings would still be high?
I have a garden pond - which is topped up with a hose ever so often - but its been here for 5 years and isn't leaking.
Any ideas?

deanos

Are the old readings estimated and the most recent been actually been read ?