I'd like a water meter but council won't give permission

jasonwatkins

I know it's unlikely it'll ever be given to be honest, given what they've told me, but I was just generally wondering if anyone had experienced a similar situation and had managed to get a meter ?

I'm single and live on my own and my water charges are currently £36 pounds a month. I know it's a fixed price for water usage that the council charge, which is set by the water company (Essex and Suffolk) but I do feel that i'm massively overpaying for the amount of water I actually use.

Are there avenues to appeal the decision ?. Or could I feasibly go to some kind of ombudsman to complain ?

Any ideas would be most welcome, thankyou

Cardew

Is the water account(not the rent) in your name?

deanos

IIRC if you are renting for longer than 6 months the council cant refuse

macman

Agree. And on what grounds have they refused you? If it can't technically be fitted then you can ask to be switched to assessed billing rather than RV.

deanos

macman wrote: »

Agree. And on what grounds have they refused you? If it can't technically be fitted then you can ask to be switched to assessed billing rather than RV.

it needs a survey first before they would do that

jasonwatkins

Cardew wrote: »

Is the water account(not the rent) in your name?

The water is paid as part of the rent apparently, so it's not in my name. I've been told that when I'm moved on to appeal rate ESA, my rent will be covered due to my change of circumstances but the water rates will have to be paid separately.

macman wrote: »

Agree. And on what grounds have they refused you? If it can't technically be fitted then you can ask to be switched to assessed billing rather than RV.

The reason given was that since the water company charge them a fixed price, they then have to charge everyone the same amount, regardless of usage.

I was told that if i lived in an adapted disabled property or if i lived above a commercial premises then i probably could have one, but neither of those circumstances are relevant to me.

And i've lived here since April, so that's around 8 months.

Cardew

There are other possibilities.

The OP might live in Scotland or N Ireland where there are no water charges on the same basis as England and Wales - but a fixed amount in Scotland.

Also in England/Wales the OP live in a block of flats where the water is centrally metered and billed to the council and they raise a fixed charge to each flat - this sometimes also happens when there is hot water for radiators also supplied centrally.

Edit: Posts crossed.

jasonwatkins

Cardew wrote: »

Also in England/Wales the OP live in a block of flats where the water is centrally metered and billed to the council and they raise a fixed charge to each flat - this sometimes also happens when there is hot water for radiators also supplied centrally

This is basically what happens for me.

Gothicfairy

If your council has one account for the whole block and there is other issues with hot water then you would have little chance at getting a meter as the water company will not want to bill one person on a meter and the rest through the council. It is just more trouble then it is worth and for all you know the whole property might be on a joint meter and that can cause all sorts of problems when trying to divide into each flat.

jasonwatkins

Just spoken to Essex and Suffolk water who told me that if the meter can be installed outside the property then they don't actually need landlord permission.

They also said that if I can get written confirmation from the council that they won't allow me to have a water meter then they could also potentially reduce the costs even further.

They're sending me the stuff in the post so have to keep my fingers crossed that I can have one outside at least.