Water Bill going Backwards????

Welsh_Wizard_999

I pay my water Bill by direct debit and live with my daughter so we dont use a lot of Water. My most recent Bill had -6 units negaive. When I rang United utilities they said some old meters develop faults and start going backwards:j !!!!!! My meter is only 9 years old. They want to increase my direct debit to an amount I would not normally use and say it could take up to 2 months to replace the water meter but once its in place I can give a reading after a few months and they will adjust. My instincts are to cancel the direct debit as its their fault as they wont have a clue for at least a few months what I m using. Any ideas on what rights I may have will be greatly appreciated.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Was the previous meter reading estimated?

It is not an unusual situation to have a bill, calculated on an over-estimated meter reading, corrected on the following bill

Welsh_Wizard_999

Thanks Cardew for that. yes it was Estimated.

I plan to take a reading now and monitor it over the next month and check my previous readings. I suspect they over Estimated as I am quite a low user. I dont think they should be talking about replacing the meter as being faulty without first checking the figures. I will in future take my own readings and supply them regulary like I do with my Gas and Electricity.