£75/month water bill?

Mr_Soft

simmed wrote: »

There's 5 of us, I don't think we use a huge amount of water..

Students, you say? Washing up? Showering?

Nah, you're probably right. :rotfl:

quinny

shellsuit wrote: »

We're a family of 5 (3 beds) and pay £40 a month.

My Dad is on his own (1 bed) and his is £36 a month.

We live local to each other too so I have no idea why we pay virtually the same but we use plenty more water than him!


Maybe that's a normal price for your neck of the woods?

your Dad should really get a meter installed free of charge if he's on his own, I doubt very much he'll spend even half of that amount per month and even if he does I believe you can get it removed if not happy within the first year.

macman

The meter is not removed, it is simply disregarded, and you revert to RV billing.

skintandscared_2

I think we need to ask for a meter, but can you do that if you live in a block of flats??

Our block is just 6 flats. We are tenants, but the rest of the block are owner-occupied. Our monthly direct debit to Veolia Water is £50, but there are just two of us, both out at work all day. We use the washing machine probably 4x per week, both shower daily but don't have a dishwasher. Surely this is way too much?! We don't have the option of putting a water-saver in the toilet cistern as it is built-in behind a wall panel and we don't have access to it.

I'm taking a water meter reading tomorrow and checking we're not paying too much!

macman

You said that you 'think you need to ask for a meter', but you're going to 'take a meter reading tomorrow'? Please explain.
You can ask for a meter wherever you live, but flats can be more tricky to physically install a meter to due to shared supplies etc.
If a meter cannot be physically fitted then you should request to go onto assessed billing instead-however this can only be done after a meter has been surveyed and rejected.
If you are currently on RV billing, then the number of people in the property and your lifestyle/usage is irrelevant-your billing is based on the rental value of the property circa 1990.

skintandscared_2

macman wrote: »

You said that you 'think you need to ask for a meter', but you're going to 'take a meter reading tomorrow'? Please explain.
You can ask for a meter wherever you live, but flats can be more tricky to physically install a meter to due to shared supplies etc.
If a meter cannot be physically fitted then you should request to go onto assessed billing instead-however this can only be done after a meter has been surveyed and rejected.
If you are currently on RV billing, then the number of people in the property and your lifestyle/usage is irrelevant-your billing is based on the rental value of the property circa 1990.

Sorry, yes that didn't make much sense did it!! We have a water meter in the carpark under a manhole cover but for some reason I had it in my head that an individual meter would be in our flat somewhere ... but thinking about it, that is probably THE meter, isn't it!! DOH!! These flats weren't built in 1990, they're only about 7 years old max. Our rent is £750 per month now.

macman

So how have you been checking your bills up to now? Meters are most often in the street. If so there's probably a row of them under the hatch, so you just have to cross reference the serial number from your bill to find yours.

skintandscared_2

macman wrote: »

So how have you been checking your bills up to now? Meters are most often in the street. If so there's probably a row of them under the hatch, so you just have to cross reference the serial number from your bill to find yours.

Simple answer, I haven't We moved in 18 months ago and our direct debit was £32. I'm doing a check-up of my direct debits and have just realised it's now £50. Yes, I know that's disgraceful that I haven't noticed earlier that it's changed, and haven't been asked for a meter reading. I'm doing meter readings of everything tomorrow and getting this all sorted out - water, gas and elec.

When we left our last property, we'd overpaid the gas/elec by £700....

macman

They don't ask you for meter readings, they read from the street or estimate them. But that does not prevent you from supplying your own in future.

skintandscared_2

Well I spoke to Veolia today and apparently we are due to have the meter read this week. The reason for our DD hike is a HUGE bill for the previous 6 months. He admits it's way higher than it should be for our flat/usage and thinks we may have a leak.... The bills apparently rose sharply about 3 years ago (before we moved in) so there's definitely something odd going on. We'll see what this reading says and take it from there!