Essex & Suffolk Water bill.

michael432000

I am with Essex & Suffolk Water.

I live in a small converted upstairs flat, one of four 1-bedroom flats in one house. I have been here 11 years.

Nightmare.

I pay £310 water bill.

When I had plenty of money I used to pay it all at the start of the year. Now I am on minimum wage and can barely afford to eat properly.

Just found out that my upstairs neighbour pays £150. He has a slightly smaller flat but has more facilities than me.

Neighbour below has an identical flat to me and also has a garden and front parking space. A large family somehow manages to live in it. They pay around £240.

Seems rather unfair.

Anything I can do?

Cardew

Apply for a meter.

If one can't be fitted for any reason, you will be offered an assessed charge - you can determine how much that will be from the water company.

Assuming you haven't got a meter, your charges are based on the Rateable Value(RV) which could have been assessed as long ago as 1973 - or when property was converted. It is even possible that you are paying charges based on the RV for the whole building - before conversion.

alanfp

Hi

Firstly, is that £310 total, ie for water and sewerage services?

I assume it's not £310 just for the Essex & Suffolk bit!!!

Phone them up and ask them for advice or look on the website to see whether a meter would save you money.

In terms of your neighbours' bills, find out if they are being charged on RV or a meter. (and also see if you can find out if your RV is reasonable, as I think you may be able to challenge the rating, but that's another thread entirely).

Good luck

Cardew

alanfp wrote: »

In terms of your neighbours' bills, find out if they are being charged on RV or a meter. (and also see if you can find out if your RV is reasonable, as I think you may be able to challenge the rating, but that's another thread entirely).

Good luck

There is absolutely no mechanism to challenge or change your RV - covered many many times and Ofwat have ruled on that as well.

This is because the RV was the basis of the present day Council Tax, but based on a diferent criteria.

There have been several cases where a large house has been converted into flats(post 1990) and one of the flats has retained the RV of the original property.

Part of planning Permission for the conversion would usually stipulate that all flats should have meters(post 1990) but often that was ignored and the Water companies have not checked up.

alanfp

Cardew wrote: »

There is absolutely no mechanism to challenge or change your RV -

Sorry All. Of course there isn't. I jumped straight into "challenge your council tax band" mode!