can they really charge this much?!

Ch3rrie

Hi everyone,
We moved recently, from a 2 bed terrace to 3 bed terrace. 2 adults, 2 kids that are still in nappies.
I rang Severn Trent to change our details and they said we'd have to pay £50 a month. In the previous property, it was £17!
We don't use anymore water than in the old house, so I don't believe charging so much more is acceptable. I don't know how it works.
The guy quoted £30 a month of we had a meter which is better. I want to read the sticky about water meters before deciding on that.

I'm hoping I miss heard him say the 50 but I doubt it as I told him there is no way i will pay that much to use the same amount of water as before.

Can they really charge so much more? This house isn't much bigger than our old one. We have an extra toilet, but we don't flush it more than when we just had one!

HappyMJ

Ch3rrie wrote: »

Hi everyone,
We moved recently, from a 2 bed terrace to 3 bed terrace. 2 adults, 2 kids that are still in nappies.
I rang Severn Trent to change our details and they said we'd have to pay £50 a month. In the previous property, it was £17!
We don't use anymore water than in the old house, so I don't believe charging so much more is acceptable. I don't know how it works.
The guy quoted £30 a month of we had a meter which is better. I want to read the sticky about water meters before deciding on that.

I'm hoping I miss heard him say the 50 but I doubt it as I told him there is no way i will pay that much to use the same amount of water as before.

Can they really charge so much more? This house isn't much bigger than our old one. We have an extra toilet, but we don't flush it more than when we just had one!

£17 is very cheap. You won't get metered water that cheap.

Severn Trent puts the charges on their website.

The standing charges are £27.38 for a water supply, £12.88 for sewerage and £29.70 for a terraced property for drainage. Total £69.96 per year.

Most people use about 50 cubic metres per person per year. Babies might use a little less now but they will grow up and use much more.

The cost of water is 152.2p per cubic metre plus 92.2p per cubic metre for sewerage. A total of £2.444 per cubic metre multiply that by 50 and then by 4 and you get £488.80...add that to the standing charges and you get £558.76 then divide by 12 and you get £46.50 a month....which is £3.50 a month less than you are currently paying..so yes you could save.

They have guessed at £30 a month which is about 80 litres per person per day which is quite low at about half the average.

Ch3rrie

I am gutted to know its about right what was quoted. Thanks happymj for working it out for me. I'll talk to my parter when he is home and decide what well do.

Cardew

Don't assume that the £50 a month they want now, means £600 a year. There are a number of reasons why it could be lower.

What is your Rateable Value(RV) which is on your bill or ask Severn Trent. Also what area of Severn Trent's patch do you live?

If you post those details we can work out exactly your annual unmetered bill.

As said above £30 a month metered charge is low for 4 people with ST.

macman

ST have no control whatsoever over your RV, they can only bill you based on what it is. You chose to move to a property with a much higher RV, so you have a higher RV-based bill.
The RV bears no relation to the size of the property or it's facilities.
Fitting a meter is a no-brainer, since if it's more expensive you can have it disregarded within the first 12 months.

spiro

macman wrote: »

Fitting a meter is a no-brainer, since if it's more expensive you can have it disregarded within the first 12 months.

But as a new occupant they can force you to have a meter and this can then not be disregarded.

macman

Yes they can. But since the OP was quoted £30 a month 'of (if?) metered', or £50 on RV billing, it can be assumed that the are not being subected to compulsory metering.