Unpaid Water Bill - Anglian Water

MJ1234

Hi all,

Just wondered if anyone had experienced the same as me and can give someadvice...

I moved into my property back in July 2012 and (unfortunately) did notregister with Anglian Water as I am a first time buyer and it's a new buildhome.

I was unaware that you needed to register yourself with the water companyand was honestly expecting a letter to turn up in my post explaining what Ineeded to do, needless to say, this slipped my mind (having a young child,things slip my mind constantly!) and I never looked into it etc.

After noticing that my metre was being read I recently researched who mywater company were and gave them a call. It happened to be the most unhelpfulAnglian Water and I have now a bill for almost £600 to pay.

My frustration is, that for a first time buyer like myself, there is absolutelyno reference to register with a water company and I am confused as to how theycan ensure the metre is read, yet they can't send a letter to 'The Occupier'informing them they need to register?!?!?

I now have a huge bill hanging over my head which I don't feel I am solely responsiblefor and when I requested they add a £5 payment onto my monthly bill to coverthe charge, they informed me I needed to pay £11 per month. I simply haven'tthe spare cash for that and greatly resent the entire handling of the situation.

Anglian are most unhelpful and in fact my monthly fee has changed 3 timessince conversations started 2 weeks ago, from £35 to £39 and now £37. Theyclearly take advantage as they are a monopoly, however I feel I may not have aleg to stand on here?! Can anyone offer advice?

Many thanks

M

nuttyp

It is usually up to the homeowner/tenant to contact the supplier, obviously you should have known that you would have to pay this bill at some point. I would write to them and explain your circumstances and offer the £5 per month off the debt, start paying off your bill now. If you have £1 spare send it in to them. they can send you a payment card to use at a paypoint/postoffice.

good luck in sorting it out.

bluewire

I think that you are being a little 1 sided in your view of this situation.

It is your responsibility to inform companies that you have moved in to a house. As your house is on a meter the first chance that the water co get to know that someone has moved in is when they read the meter.

I do however agree that you could have been helped by them writing in the 10? months that it took for the first read.

When you moved in the builder should have provided you with all of the meter reads (Gas/Elec/Water) this should have been your prompt to contact all of the companies.

If I (not wanting to sound all high and mighty) had moved in and did not know who to contact I would have put some money aside each month to cover something towards the bill that would drop on my door 1 day. I too have young children and things constantly drop from my mind.

mcc100

MJ1234 wrote: »

I moved into my property back in July 2012

I assume you mean July 2011. If so your bill seems extremely high for 10 months.

How many people live in the property?

MJ1234

Sorry, I did mean to say 2010, so I have been using water and not paying for1yr and 10 months!!

I'm not disputing the fact that I used the water andtherefore need to pay for it, I am just frustrated that I was never made aware that I neededto make the first move in registering.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing as I myself cannot believe I didn't realisesooner and start looking into my water company and registering etc. But we leadsuch busy lives now and I find it amazing that Anglian can organise the meterreadings, yet cannot send a simple letter!

I think their general poor customer service has lead me to be more enragedthan I perhaps would have been if they were a little more courteous and interestedin my situation. Coupled with the fact that each time I speak to a differentrep I get a different monthly payment fee it is causing me to question theirintegrity.

Thank you for the advice so far. I guess I should admit defeat on this one!Boo.

deanos

When the meter is fitted a welcome pack is left with the site manager and all the information is in that (serial number , location, phone numbers etc) , i guess the site did not give you this information pack ?

MJ1234

Nope! I've checked through all my documents and my property information pack and nothing. Very frustrating.

macman

With any property move it's your responsibilityto organise and register for the utilities and services: water, gas electricity, phone and council tax. You presumably managed to find time for the others, so why blame the water supplier?
People often blame this on 'not knowing who their supplier is', but that does not apply to water .
The upside is that you've had 22m free credit on your water account.