Massive Jump in Water Rates (Welsh Water)

TepidWater

Every six months I check my water/gas/electricty meters and submit my readings to the suppliers to negotiate better prices.

However, this week I received a real shock!

Since providing the readings, every one of my direct debits has increased. I'm not so bothered with the gas and electricity as my original DDs were too low. The new electricity DD is £44pm and the new gas DD is £30pm.

The increase in water rates however is phenomenal. The new water DD is £50pm! There are no arrears on the account. I find this incredible as there's only two us and we live in a new 4 bedroom house. We're both fairly energy/water savvy (e.g. showers only, taps not left running, occasional use of dishwasher (3x per week)/washing machine (2x per week).

Completed water leak test - negative.

Ideas please.

Cardew

How much has your consumption increased? and over what period?
How did you carry out a leak test?
2 people should, on average, use about 10 cubic meters per month.

Tallymanjohn

I take it you're on a water meter then? - may be a silly question, ignore if it is.

TepidWater

Yep - we're on a water meter.

As far as the leak test was concerned, we took the water reading on a Saturday morning at 8am, switched the main tap off then read it again at 9am on the Saturday evening - no movement. We've checked all the taps (including the outside one) and there's no obvious leak there either.

Just can't believe we're paying £50 a month! Is this normal?!?

TepidWater

I don't think our water usage pattern has changed since we moved into the property (May 2006).

Cardew

How much water have you used in the 6 months since you moved in?

You say it is a new house. Is that brand new? i.e. you being the first occupant?

If you didn't read the meter when you moved in, you could be paying for water you didn't use - the builders for instance?

£600 is certainly not normal for 2 people - and of course you are probably paying for surface water drainage which in all probability you should not be paying for.

Let us know what your water bill states and perhaps we can help further.

[Deleted User]

Tepidwater we are with welsh water. 2 of us in a 3 bed new house and also water conscious. 3-4 washes a week in machine, dishwasher daily, waste disposal only a couple of times a month

81 cu m over 12 months and latest dd is now set at approx £24 per month

obviously a fault somewhere in your system. I know you did a test but water meters can be connected to the wrong house or may be numbered incorrectly

TepidWater

Thanks guys. It just seems very high to us. It sounds as though we're in the same sort of position as you Kittie.

Cardew - the house is about three years old. We took the water reading when we moved in so, in theory, the water since has only been used by us.

The DD was increased after I telephoned Welsh Water to inform them of the new reading. It went from £26pm to £50pm. I've asked for a written statement - I'll provide details when I receive it.

TepidWater

By the way, the name "TepidWater" has nothing to do with this post. :-)

Mikeyorks

TepidWater wrote:

The DD was increased after I telephoned Welsh Water to inform them of the new reading. It went from £26pm to £50pm. I've asked for a written statement - I'll provide details when I receive it.

Not sure I follow this.

If you've been reading the meter for 3 years - you must have a reasonable idea of your average monthly consumption?? Which should be in the region of 10cubic metres / month? And which equates to the £26 / month you mention.

If that consumption hasn't suddenly increased - then you've given the wrong figure (black digits only;) ), or they've taken it incorrectly (although they should do a check that the new figure is not wildly out of pattern with previous) . If you just multiply up your (annual) consumption to the current year water / sewage charges and add on standing charges / surface water for each quarter - and divide the whole by 12. Then you've got your DD figure (assuming no c/fwd arrears etc).

Having said all that. I do find my own supplier doesn't yet appear to realise consumption can be seasonal. And tries to vary my DD at every meter reading. It's been up to £40pm and down to £11pm in consec quarters - and where I know my consumption is averaging 10 cu mtrs each month. So I just ring them - and insist it's £25pm. No real arguments to date.

Ring them and find out what figure they captured when you last rang?? But you should know if what you gave them is out of pattern?

EDIT

Apologies - realised the house is 3 yrs old - and you've only been meter reading since May! But your later post does suggest no change in pattern. So question remains as to whether latest reading destroys that?

TepidWater

Cheers Mike - when I submitted my first reading I read it upside down and the Welsh Water rep was really confused!

I've spoken to them today and. to be fair to them, they were as puzzled as me as to why my consumption was so high.

We moved here in May (25/05/06) and our first reading was 00606. On Monday (20/11/06) it read 00705. Therefore, in the space of approximately 6 months we've used 99 units (roughly 16.5 per month).

We're going to keep a "water" diary (sad, I know) over the next 4 weeks to see how much we're acutally using.