Severn Trent have quadrupled my DD

Jonesy88

Hello MSE :money: people,

Just looking for some advice really on the back on receiving a rather large water bill.

Me and my OH live in a small 2 bed new build property and have always ticked along nicely on a DD which ranged from £18-£22 for a water thats on a meter.

In August we got a bill which I noticed we had gone from credit to debt but no DD reassessment so didnt pay too much attention and thought it was just down to timings etc. Today we got a bill for £336 for 6 months (actual reading) and this means ST want to change the DD from £21 to £82 a month - nearly 4 times the amount!

I rang to query this and was told our usage has increased from an average 0.1-0.2 units a day to 0.5 a day, hence the debt. Im so annoyed that if we have been underpaying why wasnt this picked up in August? The advisor gave us some tests to carry out to check the meter is running ok but so far everything seems fine . She thought 0.5 units a day was too high for our small property and circumstances.

Any ideas?

macman

Have you done a flow test?
Have you verified the meter readings against the bill?

Jonesy88

Hi,

Yes the reads are correct.

The meter didnt move between 11.30 - 1.30 today when no water was used, however we're going to do the test overnight (as advised) to see if there is any movement.

If there is movement, the next step is to turn off the internal stop tap apparently to see if the meter still moves so we can differentiate between a leak and a faulty meter.

Im more annoyed that this potential problem has been building for atleast 6 months - ST knew our consumption had changed in August yet took no action. I queried this today and was told the system has been changed so in the future this wouldnt happen. Doesnt really help me though does it?

From a customer service point i think ST havent acted very well - i work for an energy supplier and if we were to quadruple a DD we would atleast attempt mitigation first and not ignore consumption changes to let a problem build.

Cardew

0.5 cubic metres a day(182pa) for two people is nearly twice the UK average. For it to have increased so much, suggests some sort of leak but your investigations should determine if it is external.

The most likely candidate for an internal leak is a cistern overflowing(silently) into the toilet bowl - this can be intermittent.

You ask why the leak wasn't picked up by ST in August; yet you state:

In August we got a bill which I noticed we had gone from credit to debt but no DD reassessment so didnt pay too much attention and thought it was just down to timings etc.

Water companies, like most gas/electricty companies, these days rely totally on 'The Computer' and customer accounts are normally 'untouched by human hand' until queried by the customer.

It is a valid argument that there could/should be a mechanism to alert the company to unusual consumption patterns. However this would create a huge amount of work as there are many situations where there are valid reasons for a big increase in consumption. If the computer program identified all cases, they would all need investigation.

spiro

If they only review the DD annually there was nothing stopping you when you got the bill in August asking them to increase the DD.

J9withdogs

I've had exactly the same problem with STWA recently. Normally my annual usage is about 58 units per year. Suddenly the meter has shown usage of 146 units in 6 months.

I did an overnight check with no usage showing and since the bill the usage has gone back down to normal.

STWA says that I must have had a leak.

Really?? A catastrophic leak that I didn't notice, which used 3 years worth of water in 6 months then fixed itself??

STWA says that I must pay the £425 bill! HELP!!!

Cardew

J9withdogs wrote: »

I've had exactly the same problem with STWA recently. Normally my annual usage is about 58 units per year. Suddenly the meter has shown usage of 146 units in 6 months.

I did an overnight check with no usage showing and since the bill the usage has gone back down to normal.

STWA says that I must have had a leak.

Really?? A catastrophic leak that I didn't notice, which used 3 years worth of water in 6 months then fixed itself??

STWA says that I must pay the £425 bill! HELP!!!

Welcome to the forum

I suggest you contact the Consumer Council for Water

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/

J9withdogs

Thank you - I really appreciate the link!