help with new water bill

janey70

hi could anyone advise me on my new water bill i have just received for £458.34 i live in the lowest band for council tax , i live in a studio flat (no separate bedroom) and live alone .i moved into the property a year ago and i was paying about £7 every 2 weeks but got into some arrears so was paying about £10 a week to pay them off which i have now done and confirmed this with them on phone ,when i asked them about my new bill and how much i should be paying the women didnt seem to know and kept going off the phone saying she would send me a single occupancy form out which i received with my bill theres not even a breakdown of what im being charged for just all my payments for the year that i should pay . im confused as my mum who lives in a higher band area and a 2bedroom house is only paying £347 for year and none of us are on water meters and both rent from council ? . when i had a visit from my council officer a few weeks ago as part of my tenancy she said i was paying to much and to ask for water meter but all i have been sent is a form ?

Cardew

The council tax banding of your property is not relevant for water charges

You have to apply for a meter.

Only if a meter cannot be fitted will you have the choice of a single persons assessed charge.

If a meter is fitted and is not cheaper you can revert back(within 12 months) to your present arrangement of paying based on your Rateable Value(RV)

Your new water bill of £458 will probably include the arrears fro earlier.

janey70

cardew there are no more arrears on my account as i payed them all off and when i spoke to them they confirmed this ? i have arranged to have a meter in as £458 is disgusting i dont live in a 4 bedroom house with a family there is only me in a flat with 1 living room kitchen and bathroom and am at work most of time .

Cardew

Where do you live? South West?

What is your Rateable Value?

janey70

no im in nottingham cardew ng7 area which if you look it up isnt a high class area sorry dont no what rateable value is ?

Cardew

So presumably you are with Severn Trent.

On your bill it will state the Rateable Value or RV expressed as £xxx - possible around £200. That is the basis on which you are charged.

I find it hard to understand why a studio flat in your area has such high charges and it may be a mistake.

If your flat is in a conversion of a house to flats, you may have retained the RV for the whole house and paying for all the house, or they are all paying the same.

Can you post full details of your bill.

janey70

thats right cardew sorry for not saying that .
on my bill there is no rv or anything similar as i said at beginning all it says is as follows> dear customer thankyou for arranging to pay by a watercard.
if you have requested a new watercard this has been sent separately and should be with you in the next few days. yours sincerely customer relations manager .
it then lists my payment dates starting from 2/9/2013- £9.03 then every week at £8.81 with last payment being on 25/08/2014 .
i received a letter with the bill addressed to me thanking me for asking about single occupier assessed charge tariff .if you live by yourself in a property where a meter cant be installed your eligiable for this tariff.
From 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014, the charges for this tariff based on water sewerage and surface water drainage services are : terraced/flat £195.61 a year
semi detached £226.31 a year
Detached £256.88 a year.
These services might be different if you dont receive all your services from us.
if you would like to apply for this option please read and complete the enclosed form. when we receive your form we will check if your eligible and get in touch.

so thats all info i have Cardew ,there coming to put a water meter in next week as i applied on line and rang me yesterday shame there customer services dept isnt as efficient! they already know there flats and i live by myself as i received a bill last year for payments nearly half the amount there trying to charge me this year and whenever i ring them about my new bill its like they dont have info that im giving them hence turning for some help on here to see if anyone else can understand .

Cardew

If you don't have a meter, and as you are not on an assessed charge, you must have a Rateable Value(RV) and it will be on a bill; that was a letter not a bill you quoted.

Contact Severn Trent and ask what is your RV.

Obviously you are doing the correct thing by getting a meter, but if the RV was wrong before(paying for whole house?) you might get some money back.