Thames Water metre reading frequency

vienly

How often does Thames Water do the metre reading for you?

The reason why I ask is because my last bill states the 'Previous reading' was 186, but when I checked my water metre this morning it shows 391(88) ????

The 186 reading is off the 27th Sept 2011 - 7 March 2012 2012 and it doesn't say 'Estimated reading' next to it.

I have a very bad feeling that Thames Water have under estimated me throughout the past 2 years. They never done a reading apart from the initial reading which was 2 years ago, I have never checked it before until this morning..... (my fault)

I have worked out that there is 205m3 cubic litre difference which I probably will need to pay which works out to be £351.87.

Is it possible Thames Water are just making up their 'actual' readings, and estimates are just estimates?

My calculations show that my average bill per year is £120.
There are 2 people in this household.

I checked my parents water metre also provided by Thames Water, and there is 100m3 difference too, which they will need to pay.

bluewire

Where is your water meter located?
They should read the meter at least once a year.

vienly

My metre is on the pavement outside my house.
I've checked it and the metre number is the same.

calford

The meter should be read on a half yearly basis but due some factors this isnt always able to do and will show up as a estimated bill under the reading. Thames usually estimate the bill over to save people disappointment. Check the water is off in the house and check to see if the part in the middle of the meter is spinning as this may indicate a leak. At the end of the day if that is the reading then thats it. hope this helps.

vienly

I have checked and there is no water leak as when I turn off the water in the house, checking the water metre leak indicator (the spinning thing in the middle) it stops.

What I don't understand is how Thames Water read the reading as 186 (6 months ago) and it's now 391 cubic metres. How is that possible?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

From the Thames Water web site:

We aim to read household meters at least once a year and issue bills twice a year.

calford

vienly wrote: »

I have checked and there is no water leak as when I turn off the water in the house, checking the water metre leak indicator (the spinning thing in the middle) it stops.

What I don't understand is how Thames Water read the reading as 186 (6 months ago) and it's now 391 cubic metres. How is that possible?

It might have been 286, reading between 100-150 reads a day you can somtimes misread one. If its 391 after two years it's still cheaper then my 3bed house.

My advise would be to ring Thames and "make a complaint" and ask for each half yearly read. They will then send a tech round to investigate. Your meter may be faulty. Seen it before. Make sure you complain otherwise it may never get sorted...

vienly

I have 2 bills which state they have sent someone out in the past 2 Septembers. It's a bit hard to believe that they have misread it twice over 2 years.

I called Thames Water today and they said they will have someone come out on 16th May (over a month away) to inspect the metre.

I checked the metre this morning and 9 hours later after work just now, the numbers haven't moved, so definitely not a leak.

Will see what they say when they inspect it.