High Water Bill - Metered

nimdy

I just got the water bill today. We moved into a rented place back in May and haven't been able to provide a meter reading as the meter is somewhere in the road and we don't have access.

The bill is just over £300 which I think is way too steep for less than 5 months water and sewerage (~£60 a month which is more a month than our gas/electric). The bill gives an actual reading for October, but an estimate for the previous reading.

Can I contact the water company and 'negotiate' their estimated previous reading?

I've plugged my details into a water consumption calculator on ccwater.org.uk and have a calculation of £340 a year. I'm being charged nearly that for five months!

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cardew

You should have access to your meter. That is between you and your landlord/letting agent. They should have taken a reading with you when you moved in.


If you didn't provide a meter reading when you moved in May, it is perfectly possible that you are paying for some of the previous occupant's water.

The only way you could re-negotiate the estimated opening reading, is if you can contact the previous occupant and persuade them to pay more. Someone has used the water.

You don't say which company supplies your water, or how many occupants are in the property. Prices vary tremendously across the UK.

The average consumption is approx. 55 cubic metres per person, per year. So if two of you, around 46 cubic metres for 5 months.

If you talk to the Water company, they might make a goodwill deduction, but you are not negotiating from a position of strength!

nimdy

Thanks for the reply. When the inventory clerk walked us round the property he mentioned that the water meter was in the road and that because of that he didn't take a reading. I didnt really think this was a valid reason but went with it. I must admit to forgetting to do a reading myself. Anglian water have only just told me what meter serial number is mine, so before now I wouldn't have been able to make a reading as there are 6 meter covers clustered together in the footway so I wouldn't have known which was mine.

On the meter reading page of their website there is a reason list. The one that seems to apply to me is "To change the estimated opening meter reading on my account". So I have left a reading based on the 55mCu figure given above and on the ccwater.org.uk and will see what happens.

I realise someone has used the water and needs to pay it.

matelodave

I had a leak earlier this year and Anglian Water requested me to give them two readings two weeks apart so they could estimate what my normal consumption should be and they then gave me a credit for the estimated amount of water lost. As it happens I do read the meter regularly (that's how I discovered the leak) but it might be worthwhile doing the same read the meter several times over three or four weeks to establish what you usually use and you might be able to persuade AW of what your initial reading should have been,

And bear in mind for the future - always get an initial reading of all your meters and then read and record them regularly, then you'll know if something is going or gone wrong