South West Water HUGE bill, please help!

SchminkyCat

Hello!

We have just moved into a rented property in the PL9 area and have received our first bill from South West Water. For 10 months they are charging me just over £1230!!!! They want £123 a month from next week. We live in a 3 bed property with just me and 2 children (1 who never pulls the flush cos she doesn't yet have the strength to and the other is still in nappies). Our garden is decking and paving so no outdoor water usage, other than to rinse the cat litter tray now and again.

I am gobsmacked. I've asked a friend who lives in a similar house, 3 doors away from us (2 adults and 3 children) and she pays about half of this but is on a meter.

I've looked online and can't find out how the rateable value of the property is calculated (am hoping they have made a mistake!), however I have found out that our house is council tax band C.

Can anyone help/advise?

victor2

It sounds like you would almost certainly save money by having a water meter installed. Don't know how it works with rented property, but check with the landlord and/or south west water. Their website has a calculator where you can estimate what your metered charges could be.
They are presumably charging you £1230 for a year, but spreading the payments over 10 months. Does sound a bit high, but maybe it's the going rate around there - check with somebody else in similar property without a meter.

bloss0m

I think SW water have one of the highest chargers due to all the investment going on and also you have a lot of coastline down that area. That said it does seem very high. Cant help with going rate as I dont live in that area and also I am on a meter paying £33 per month for 4 of us

Cardew

SchminkyCat wrote: »

I've looked online and can't find out how the rateable value of the property is calculated (am hoping they have made a mistake!), however I have found out that our house is council tax band C.

Can anyone help/advise?

The Rateable Value(RV) is not used for anything these days except unmetered water charges.

RV was the method of calculating 'local taxes' prior to 1990 - when it changed to the Poll Tax and then Council Tax.

It was based on the notional rent the property could command at the time of assessment which for most houses in England was 1973.

It has no connection to Council Tax and the RV cannot be changed.

Even at the very high water prices in the South West you would be far better off with a meter. Apply for a meter, and in the unlikely event of it costing more, you can revert back to charges based on RV within a 12 month period.

Doesn't matter that you a tenant, you are the account holder and it is your decision.

SchminkyCat

Thanks all of you for replying. I think I am going to have to contact the letting agent tomorrow and let them know that I am going to be changing to a meter. I've done a couple of online calculators now and I just can't see how i'd ever reach £123 /month on a meter.

We use the bath maybe 4 times a week (both kiddies in together, in about 4" of water. I shower every day, but mostly that takes 5 mins as its all the kiddies allow me! lol.

I've read that it can take them up to 3 months to install a meter, is there anything I can do to claim back the monthly payments i'll have to make while I am waiting for them to install it? Can I reclaim anything once they've metered me for a couple of months and seen how little i'm using?

macman

No you can't, the charges based on RV will apply until the time the meter is installed-unless they take more than the 3 months maybe. And you will not get any retrospective refunds.

cornishchick89

Hi, we had a similar issue when we moved into a new rented property. Our water bill for 2 people in a 2 bed property came to a wopping £800 :eek: !!!

I rung SWW and asked about a meter and was told that landlords cannot say whether a meter can be fitted or not its up to the tenants (not sure how true this is!). It then took about a month for someone to come around and check for a meter - for this time I asked to pay monthly on the bills rather than every 6 months to prevent more money going out of our account. So you can't reclaim for the time it takes to fit a meter but ask about monthly payment.s

We couldn't get a meter fitted (old property) but we have been put on a new tariff that takes into account the number of people in our property reducing our bill to just over £400. So if you can't get a meter ask about that!

Cardew

cornishchick89 wrote: »

We couldn't get a meter fitted (old property) but we have been put on a new tariff that takes into account the number of people in our property reducing our bill to just over £400. So if you can't get a meter ask about that!

It often happens that a meter cannot be fitted, usually in flats or properties with shared water mains.

In that case you get an Assessed charge. details here:

http://www.southwestwater.co.uk/media/pdf/g/c/Charges_scheme_12-13_summary.pdf

diamond_dave

We have an old property in Cornwall and were paying about £950 a couple of years ago.had a meter installed and now we pay about 1/3 of that. Ok we are careful about how we use it and if you've got youngsters it might be a little dearer, but I would get one installed asap. you have a year to change back if not satisfied.