Southern water

Mummzie

I wonder if someone could help me. I pay my water bill every month to Southern Water by direct debit and it has come to my attention today that I have been paying for Surface Water Drainage and have been doing so since I moved into the property in 2006. It is £10.72 a month. The whole estate has been paying this when in fact this is a service Southern Water do not provide to this estate as all relatively new estate have to have soakaways by law. The water company are saying they will only refund and backdate to April 2013 but surely I am entitled to claim the whole amount back as they are taking the money out of my account on a monthly basis despite not providing this service. In fact, the couple of neighbours that already knew about this have had their payments stopped for this non existent service yet they continue to deduct it from the rest of the estate's bank accounts. Can we do nothing to claim this money back?

Cardew

Southern Water Charges for Surface Water Drainage(SWD) is £23 a year, not £10.72 a month; See

http://www.southernwater.co.uk/at-home/your-bill-and-account/about-your-bill/our-charges/default.asp

There are hundreds of posts on this section about SWD. Until recently the position that Southern Water has taken with you was the Regulator(ofwat) approved position, and all companies only backdated to the beginning of the year. It was very clear that you should have claimed relief from SWD charges.

However ofwat have softened their stance recently and stated that companies can backdate 6 years IF they knew, or should have known, that SWD did not apply to that address.

Your problem now is to prove that Southern Water knew, or should have known.

I suspect if you make a big enough fuss they will cave in as the small amount(to them) is not worth fighting.

Good luck!

Mummzie

Thanks for that reply. I apologise for not seeing earlier threads. I only joined this forum this evening. I should have looked more carefully. I live on an estate of about 300 houses. I think Southern Water will know about this surface water drainage. I will fight but if I take them to Court do you think I would end up being responsible for their costs?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

If you go to the Small Claims Court you wouldn't be responsible for their costs. However for such a small amount(around £110 for 6 years) it would hardly be worth the cost to you.

If you get no satisfactory response from SW then contact the Consumer Council for Water http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ and ask them to take up your case.

The whole situation with SWD is a disgrace - not of the water companies making - The Water Privatisation Act laid down that the 'default position' would be households charged for SWD; and the occupants must claim relief. All the occupants in a 20 storey block pay SWD even though there is a single roof over the top floor.

Also the water companies don't gain any money by charging for SWD. Their revenue is limited by the Regulator and if they lose income from SWD they increase other charges to compensate.