£453 charge for a leak I had no idea about

andrea09

Hi,
just wanted to check here before i accept the above charge on top of my already extortionate bill.
I moved into my new house last july and was unaware there was a leak under my bath.
My water company sent me a letter in January 2012 regarding excess water use, and so possible leak etc.
We pulled the bath panel out and found the leak, but were not able to get this fixed until march (i had surgery in January which i have proof of, and also the added expense of fixing the leak etc)
My water company initially were charging me £453.40 for the leak, as well as £799.44 for the next years estimated charges! £1252.84 in total! When i phoned them for clarification, I explained the leak has been fixed in March 2012. The lady on the phone WAS quite helpful, and said she would amend my bill in line with this. So instead of paying £104.40 per month for the next year, she reduced it to £68. This means that the £799.44 has been reduced but she said we would still have to pay the £453.40 for the leak that had occured. I did not argue this as i do not know what rights i have.

My bugbear is- as the new occupier of the property, I was completely unaware of the leak. The water company did not bring this to my attention until January 2012. When I asked the lady on the phone what period the £453.40 covers she said 13 July 2011- 23 Jan 2012. But we had no idea of the leak during this time! Had they warned us earlier- we would have rectifed it earlier. And if they knew there was a leak, would they not have known it had stopped??!!!!AAARRGGG!!

Is it right that we are being penalised for something that we did not know about? Where would i stand if i asked them to review my bill in light of this? I have never had to question such a bill, so could someone please enlighten me??
Thanks in advance

Cardew

There are water company employees who will advise further but the policy on leaks varies with the different companies.

There is no doubt that any leak 'past' the meter is the householder's responsibility. However some companies have a one-off 'goodwill allowance if a leak has caused a high bill! Other companies stick to the letter of the law.

It is not possible to know what part of the £453.40 is attributable to the leak and what is for 6 months consumption.

Bearing in mind that a 1,000 litres(1 cubic meter) costs£2 to £3(including sewerage) in most parts of the country, it seems difficult to envisage a leak under a bath leaking 100,000 litres or so in 6 months - that is around 25 litres an hour. Especially when you had discovered the leak and left it for a couple of months; where did the water go?

So are you sure that this leak was the problem ? Have you checked your meter readings to see if consumption is still excessive?

By all means you can ask them to review that high bill. However I suggest you accept that the responsiblity is yours, but are requesting a goodwill allowance. Accusing the company of culpability is not likely to win friends.

macman

if it was leaking 25l an hour, you've have no need to run a bath-you'd be standing in one!

Cardew

andrea09 wrote: »

My bugbear is- as the new occupier of the property, I was completely unaware of the leak. The water company did not bring this to my attention until January 2012. When I asked the lady on the phone what period the £453.40 covers she said 13 July 2011- 23 Jan 2012. But we had no idea of the leak during this time! Had they warned us earlier- we would have rectifed it earlier. And if they knew there was a leak, would they not have known it had stopped??!!!!AAARRGGG!!

Just a further point on the above part of your quote.

The water company would not be aware of the leak or excess consumption until the meter was read, which generally happens every 6 months; although sometimes every 12 months with an estimated reading at the 6 month point.

It is only when a meter reading 'alerts' the computer in the accounts department, that a high consumption letter is generated.

Similary they won't be aware if the leak is fixed until the next meter reading.

It really is the customer's responsibility to check the water meter regularly to identify leaks; albeit few of us(including myself) bother!

Gothicfairy

How did you expect them to know you had a leak until they read the meter and billed you and it would seem as soon as they did that they also let you know you had high consumption

spiro

andrea09 wrote: »

My water company initially were charging me £453.40 for the leak, as well as £799.44 for the next years estimated charges! £1252.84 in total! When i phoned them for clarification, I explained the leak has been fixed in March 2012. The lady on the phone WAS quite helpful, and said she would amend my bill in line with this. So instead of paying £104.40 per month for the next year, she reduced it to £68. This means that the £799.44 has been reduced but she said we would still have to pay the £453.40 for the leak that had occured. I did not argue this as i do not know what rights i have.

I dont think they are charging you £453.30 for the leak, they are charging you this because the amount of water used in the period is in excess of what they estimated you would use. They have obviously taken it that all of this excess consumption was due to the leak and not that you use a lot more water than the previous occupier. It is perfectly possible that the bath leak only accounts for less than 1000ltrs (still 3 litres a day which I think would be noticeable via wet ceilings etc) which is £2-3 and the rest is down to you.

You need to do 2 things:
1) Turn off your main stop c*ck and make sure the meter stops turning - there could be a leak outside and
2) Take meter readings daily/weekly and see how much you are actually using.