charged for surface water on thatched house

southernpansy

Can anybody out there give me advice on an overcharge i've discovered on my bills from Anglian water.I have been renting a thatched house for the past six years or so.I usually just pay my water bill without paying any attention to it,but on this occasion i read through it and discovered that Anglian water have charged me for the disposal of surface water.Well on a thatched cottage i have no gutters or downpipes,and so no surface water that needs taking away.I phoned the water company who agreed with me and have promised to alter my future bills accordingly,and have also promised to refund me the difference back to the start of the current financial year.The point that is troubling me is would it be worth my while trying to have the other six years of overcharging repaid to me.I am on a water meter,and the bills are in my name and not the landlords.Who is responsible for the overcharging?,is it my negligence or the water company or the landlord?.The water company have somebody call around every so often to read the meter,should they not have picked up on the fact that its a thatched house and therefor has no surface water charge?.Thanks in anticipation

macman

What about the surface water drainage from the area of the property not covered by the house?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

This point has been covered many times.

Firstly the Water Privatisation Act decreed that the default position would be that surface water drainage(SWD) would be charged and the account holder would have to claim relief.

Secondly OFWAT has ruled that refunds would only be given to the beginning of the year(April). There are sound reasons for this all explained on the OFWAT website. Essentially if you and thousands of others were paid back for say 6 years, this money would be paid for by a levy on customers - many of them would not have been customers until recently.

Thirdly it is not just water from roofs and gutters that can enter the sewer. Water can run off your land onto the road and hence to the sewer etc.

The whole business of charging for SWD is a farce and varies from company to company; why should every flat in a 20 storey block pay the same as a single dwelling for example.

However it is not practical to expect the water companies to carry out an inspection of some 20 million dwellings to attempt to ascertain if they should or should not pay SWD.

Bear in mind that it doesn't matter to the water companies if people pay SWD or not. They are allowed by the Regulator to raise £xx million pounds in revenue; if they 'lose' £1million from SWD they raise it by charging extra on their other charges.

So I am afraid it is down to your negligence(as you put it!) and that of the landlord in not claiming relief. If it is any consolation, you are not alone - millions of others have also failed to claim.

southernpansy

Macman this house is a little unusual.It was built in the 1560's and from what i've been told it is one of three attached cottages that were originally one house,but that were split to accommodate two brothers and a sister.Of the three cottages,only one has any grounds with it (a gravel driveway and a garden),the cottage i am staying in is backed onto by one of the other three,and i walk out of my front door directly onto the pavement!,and so no grounds other than the cottage itself,although the thatch does overhang the garden area on one side and the gravel driveway on the other.I'm beginning to see this is more complicated than i originally thought!!!:)

southernpansy

Thank you Cardew for your help.

Gloomendoom

southernpansy wrote: »

should they not have picked up on the fact that its a thatched house and therefor has no surface water charge?.Thanks in anticipation

It doesn't surprise me. Anglian Water's meter reader didn't pick up on the fact that he was reading next door's meter instead of ours.