Meter installed but bill is still speculated, and higher??

litibe

Hi, just wonder if anyone is having similar issue. Basically, we have a two bed room flat and the water bill this year has gone up from over £20/month to £30/month. That’s why we asked to have the meter installed earlier this month because we’re sure that we don’t use much water. However, we just received a new bill saying we’ll be charged £40/month. A phone call to the water company (Southern water) to a very rude customer service guy didn’t seem to help; he said it’s their practice that since they don’t know how much water we’ll use, they’ll charge £40/month for 2 people (whereas our two room are charged £30/month??) for 6 months until they read the meter to adjust the charge. I asked why don’t they read the meter straight away, every month or 3 months like electricity and gas companies, they said it’s simply not their practice, that they’ll only do it every six month. What’s the point of having a meter installed then? To me, it just shows how utterly inefficient, greedy and don’t-give-a-damn-to-customers this company is.

Is this the same with you guys with meters installed? I'll fight with them about this. It made me really angry at these greedy cowboys.

mcc100

On a water meter you pay at the end of the period so if I was you I'd cancel the direct debit, put away £30 per month and pay the bill in full on receipt.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

As above, just pay on receipt of bill.

Or you read the meter monthly and submit readings, the water company will adjust your Direct Debit when a consumption pattern emerges.

As for 'greedy cowboys' well that they might be, but you need to understand water companies finances.

Water companies have their revenue and hence profit strictly controlled by the Regulator(Ofwat). So setting your DD to £1 monthly or £100 monthly does not affect their profits. - or indeed how much you are eventually charged for your water.

Also if you read through this section you will see that water companies get a lot of 'flak' if they let customers get into debit by having the DD set too low. Indeed almost certainly the only reason your DD increased by 50%(from £20 to £30) without a meter fitted, was that there was a debit balance on your account; water prices have 'only' increased by a few percent.

deanos

give it exactly a month, take the reading and x it by 12 , this will give you an estimated projected useage, ring them up and adjust payment accordingly

Cycrow

i was having a simlar problem, being charged £40/month for a 1bed flat.
But they wont adjust it until they read the meter, which they cant do as i will need to take a day off work for them to do it, and they cant even guarentee a day to do it, so ill end up having to take a week of work just to get a meter reading done.

i've submitted readings online but they wont change anything until they have personally read it

litibe

Thanks guys, for your suggestions. I'll cancel the direct debit first and read the meter after a month to let them know, to see how they'll adjust, if at all. Thing is the meter is installed at a very awkward corner in our flat, and it's a pain to move stuff out to read it.

Cycrow, that's terrible, have you thought of writing a complaint? Who's the authority that regulates water companies?