very high water bill

robroyin

We are a working couple living in a two bed room house we do not have kids we moved in december 2012 in this property the water meter reading at that time was 1315 and then in april 2013 we recieved a meter reading of 1336 i.e. consumption of 21cubic meter the total bill was £69.31 for 4 months
Now in the month of November 2013 we recieved a reading of 1761 a total consumption of 425 cubic meter total bill being £889 for 6 months
I called up the thames water service and some one came to inspect the property he found one of the toilets leaking, its hardly visible and the water is just about dripping
I have acknowledged the fact that it is leaking but surely the bill can't be that high.
I have shut down the toilet and will get a plumber to fix it
Now what can i do about this huge bill. is there a way out for me ? to reduce the huge massive bill.
If i speak to thames water will they reduce it. what if they don't can i take it anywhere else?
Please any advice will be appreciated

elsien

Are all the meter readings confirmed ones, or are any of them estimates?
Have you checked for any other leaks by turning everything off and looking at the meter to see if it's still clocking up units?
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/9754.htm
If the leak is just from your toilet, you are responsible, but you may be able to negotiate a payment plan.
If there is another leak, you may not be responsible and might get a deduction on your bill, depending on where the leak is.
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/9752.htm
My first point of call would be to double check you haven't got water escaping from anywhere else, as above.

Cardew

In 7 months to have used an extra 400+ cubic metres(400,000 litres) cannot be down to a 'hardly visible' leak on a toilet.


That amount equates to 80 litres an hour, 24/7, for 7 months.

pambler

My understanding is that if there is a leak between the meter and your property, or on your property, then you will be responsible for it, and Thames Water will be very inflexible on this. We had a similar problem at work (except ours was a £21000.00 bill, up from about £200!!).

But the first thing to do is to establish where the leak is - it could be in the pipes going to your house, if the water is leaking underground you may not even notice it if it is able to run away.

If the leak is your responsibility and you don't get it sorted out, you will be running up bigger and bigger bill so it needs to be done as a matter of urgency - we didn't find Thames Water particularly helpful in finding, or sorting out the problem and had to get a private contractor in.

matelodave

Do a few checks - turn off your inside stop tap and make sure that the meter has stopped running. Take a reading , leave it an hour or so and make sure the reading hasn't increased. That should establish whether your leak is inside or outside your home.
If it's outside then see if you can locate the leak or find out if it's covered by your insurance, if so get them to come and sort it out.


We had an outside leak last year (split underground pipe. I discovered it because I read the meter myself every month or so (now weekly). About 1 cu.m a day was being lost and in total we lost about £110 of water.
Once discovered I informed the water co, checked that my house insurance covered it - we had to pay the excess but it was repaired & re-instated. Anglian Water allowed me just over £108 for leakage so it worked out OK.

lindens

were all the meter readings you mentioned actual readings or estimates?

The water company may give you a reduction in the sewage aspect of your usage as a portion of it didnt go down the sewer-its on your toilet floor!

robroyin

The meter reading are actual readings I have now been taking readings everyday since the last 12 days it is 1835 on the 10th of january and 1836on the 22nd january
I spoke to thames water and they said that they can't do anything about it since it is an internal leak isn't is ironical that we were having floods everywhere and i am now being charged for wasting water which is from the a very small toilet leak.
i have checked with the neighbours supply if their water usage is affecting my meter and it is not.
I reckon they must have taken a wrong reading from a different meter when i moved into this property then on the second reading they must have got it from my meter hence the difference
also there was a big leak on my street couple of months ago could that have affected my meter who knows
For now i have organised a plumber to come and check the property for leaks and fix the toilet if the meter reading is still low like the past 12 days that means i will have to pay for it because i got a plumber and fixed the very small toilet leak.

robroyin

lindens wrote: »

were all the meter readings you mentioned actual readings or estimates?

The water company may give you a reduction in the sewage aspect of your usage as a portion of it didnt go down the sewer-its on your toilet floor!

well they said they do not calculate the bill that way its half and half of the meter readings :mad:

robroyin

Cardew wrote: »

In 7 months to have used an extra 400+ cubic metres(400,000 litres) cannot be down to a 'hardly visible' leak on a toilet.


That amount equates to 80 litres an hour, 24/7, for 7 months.

Exactly my point not sure they agree with this logic!!

robroyin

pambler wrote: »

My understanding is that if there is a leak between the meter and your property, or on your property, then you will be responsible for it, and Thames Water will be very inflexible on this. We had a similar problem at work (except ours was a £21000.00 bill, up from about £200!!).

But the first thing to do is to establish where the leak is - it could be in the pipes going to your house, if the water is leaking underground you may not even notice it if it is able to run away.

If the leak is your responsibility and you don't get it sorted out, you will be running up bigger and bigger bill so it needs to be done as a matter of urgency - we didn't find Thames Water particularly helpful in finding, or sorting out the problem and had to get a private contractor in.

So was there an internal leak when you got it checked? and did you end up paying that amount?

pambler

Our situation was a bit unusual - we had the grounds services for a business park next to us, have their portacabins in part of our car park and the water pipes ran from the meter to our offices, then on to their cabins. It turned out in the end that when they moved, they had not capped off the pipes properly and we were able to prove that it was not our fault. As far as Thames Water were concerned the bill had to be paid, but the (very large) corporation who owned the business park picked up the cost. To them, a drop in the ocean, but would have put us in a very precarious position as a business. It was quite a scary situation until we found the problem.