water company want me to pay via benefit

mart.vader

Nada666 wrote: »

They were offered the chance to repay the arrears interest free at about or less than the rate those with a lowest income are expected to be able to do so. £3.50 or so. Why is that not reasonable?

I don't know where you got that from either, but it definitely wasn't from any of the OP's posts (FYI Nos 1, 5 and 7 of this thread) The rate mentioned was £12.85 deducted from JSA of £71.70 pw. I explained why that would be unreasonable.

Edit: and I think at £71.70 p w, they are on "a lowest income".

matelodave

Haven't they got to pay for what they are using as well as paying off the arrears. You can't just pay off arrears without also paying for what you are actually using - I'd guess that the payment of £12.85 less £3.50 = a current payment of about £9.35

dirtyflannel

Thank you very much everyone for all the positive feedback. I daresay I was a bit stressed and felt I had to stick up for myself. I know lots of people in similar situations. There isnt enough cheap smaller accommodation I looked into it and 1 beds are over £100 per week rent and in short supply. Im not living a life of riley I dont smoke drink take drugs go out clubbing:A and partly why I am in this situation is because I was left with all the bills when I took a friend in and they left without helping out with bills. Hence lodgers can cost you money.
And friendship!!! I was left with a £400 plus gas bill that I was paying off £8 per week via meter and I have just found out it was paid off in Feb but they have been continuing to take this amount weekly from top up money so Npower owe me approx £200 if my calculations are correct. No doubt I wont get it from them. Hopefully I will get a job soon and wont have all this. Anyone who thinks a single person on benefits is living the highlife is very wrong. God bless all the decent helpful people out there who genuinely want to help very gratefully received.

dirtyflannel

LOL what should they do for water then? What do you suggest catch rainwater in a bucket and hope theres no drought? I cant afford water from the supermarket and I dont want to smell unclean !!!

samsmoot

Good luck with it all and don't let Npower keep your money.

sniggings

matelodave wrote: »

I think those who call it a bedroom tax should actually be aware that anyone who was in private as opposed to social housing have only been allowed a rent allowance that reflects the number of rooms they "need" as opposed to "want" for the last 7-8 years. If they wanted more rooms then they had to pay the extra above the housing allowance from another source.

The reduction in rent allowance to reflect needs instead of wants is only now catching up with what been happening in the private sector for several years.

I "want" another couple of bedrooms, but I can't afford it so I live in a place that I can afford with as many rooms as I need. Likewise I make sure the important bills like rent, rates, water and energy are paid before I can even contemplate stuff like mobile phones, Sky/Virgin, broadband, drinking, smoking or even the lottery - we even had a period of several years when we had our landline phone disconnected as it was a cost we couldn't afford.

sorry but you are wrong, the rule is you are allowed the private housing benefit allowance, if you can find a mansion with 10 bedrooms for your allowance, housing benefit will happily pay it, no deductions for any spare bedrooms, so it's not the same for those in private rented.

The government are always using this argument and it's just untrue, they know it's untrue yet still use it, saying they are just applying the same rules as those in the private sector have to follow! the tories at it again, lieing and setting one social group after another :mad:

I could find a socil housing house with 2 bedrooms for £80 but would get 14% taken off me or I could find a private 2 bedroom house/flat for £85 and they would pay it all, bit of a daft situation.

sniggings

OP I feel for you,I'm in the same boat (no pun intended), they take out £12.50 a week from me, water bills are crazy high, is it Northern Ireland that doesn't even have water bills?

You made a good point about single people, trying to run a house/flat on £71 a week, with CC and water rates coming off the benefit even before gas, electric and food is impossible, it's true what you hear, it's either hot water or food, not even heating, I can just afford to heat the water for washing etc no way can I afford heating too.

No wonder some have kids for more benefit, add a kid and they'll give you as much as they give a single adult who has to run a house/flat.

And for all those thinking "well get a job" I am trying but when you have been medically retired getting a job is not easy.

Cardew

sniggings wrote: »

You made a good point about single people, trying to run a house/flat on £71 a week, with CC and water rates coming off the benefit even before gas, electric and food is impossible,

With respect, the substance of your complaint is about the inadequacy of social security payments.

The Government in its wisdom(stupidly IMO) ‘sold off the family silver’ to private companies. It is not the responsibility of the Water, Gas and Electricity companies to subsidise their products, which will be at the expense of other customers.

sniggings

Cardew wrote: »

With respect, the substance of your complaint is about the inadequacy of social security payments.

The Government in its wisdom(stupidly IMO) ‘sold off the family silver’ to private companies. It is not the responsibility of the Water, Gas and Electricity companies to subsidise their products, which will be at the expense of other customers.

if anything I was arguing benefits for a single person are not enough to live on in winter.

But as it happens I find it laughable to privatise water, it's not like I can choose who supplies me, so yes there should be some kind of government responsablity where prices are concerned.

They have a captive market, surely the government could run a water plant, we are not talking about marketing the next iphone etc the product is already there i.e the water, they just have to clean it, but what do they do instead, give it to a private company to make billions in profit a year, and they don't even have to go out and find any customers or come up with a product.

How many water compnies do we have in the very small country, over 20! 20x profits 20x CEO wages, 20x bonuses 20x all the rest of it, talk about waste, no wonder the bills are so high.