Replacement water meter - revised bill

The_Chimp_2

I recently received a letter from Thames Water telling me my water meter was faulty, and that they had replaced it. They have 'recalculated' the final reading for the old meter for the period in which they say it was faulty. This estimate is based on the 2 weeks that the new meter has been in place. They have issued a bill for the difference in the charges.

The 2 week reading from the new meter, if extrapolated to the usual 6 month billing period, indicates water usage at about 30% more than we were using just over a year ago - before the meter developed a fault. This is according to averages of the actual readings for bills at and before the asserted time when the fault began. I have no reason to think that our water consumption is much different now than it has been for several years past. So, 3 questions:

1. Is it reasonable for them to issue a bill for an estimate of usage to replace the actual readings of a 'faulty' meter. Or is it reasonable to say, to put it crudely, your meter - your loss?

2. Can they really give an estimate for over a year's usage based on only the last 2 weeks? Surely this estimate is undermined by the pre-fault readings of a year ago?

3. How can we/they know that the meter was genuinely faulty? The readings for the 'faulty' period were lower than before, but not massively (about 25%).

Does anybody have any experience of anything similar, particularly if they contested it, successfully or otherwise?

Thanks.

notbritishgas

How many cubic metres were used in the 2 week period when the new meter was installed?
How many people live in the property?

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.


How did they know that the meter was faulty and needed replacement? Did you report it? and was it over or under reading?


It does appear to be standard practice with faulty meters to base estimates on a two week period - and people on MSE have reported that they have been extremely frugal with water use during those two weeks!


Presumably you have no difficulty with an over-estimate on future use as that will be corrected on future bills based on accurate meter readings.


What period does the retrospective estimate cover?

The_Chimp_2

Thanks for the responses. In answer to the questions -

We live in an an apartment block, so the meters are housed in a separate area. The first I heard about it was the letter saying that the meter had been replaced - there's no indication of how they knew it was faulty.

The 2 week estimate was for 6 cubic metres and there are 2 of us. As I say, extrapolated and compared with previous readings, that's about 30% higher.

The period in which they say the meter was faulty lasted a year and 2 weeks.

Now, my flatmate phoned Thames Water today to query this new bill - they apparently agreed that it seemed rather high and said that a new bill would be issued within a few days. I'm still not entirely happy with this, as I don't know what they're going to offer now, and I'm still not sure it's reasonable for them to do this in the first place. Interesting though that they can have such discretion in their 'estimates'.

Cardew

This really does sound 'fishy', as I can't think of any way they could be so precise about when the meter developing a fault.

I wonder if it could be that the meter used for billing you, was not connected to your flat. That had been discovered by someone and they were now billing you on the correct meter.

The average consumption of water is 50 to 55 cubic metres per person, per year. So for two people 100 to 110 cu mtrs a year.

6 cu mtrs in two weeks will be 156 a year - so about 50% higher than average.

If Thames Water won't give you the real story, I would contact the Consumer Council for Water http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ and ask them to investigate. In particular how did they know it had been faulty for 1 year 2 weeks.

Dizzyduck

I would contact TW & ask what proof they have that your old meter was faulty.
I shall check this, but I thought they had to test the meter to prove the fault before they could back charge you.
Also, when did they become aware of the fault? & how long did it take them to do the exchange? And why weren't you informed when the fault was found?

The_Chimp_2

Thanks for the replies. I definitely think TW need to be pushed back a bit on this replacement meter. Will let you know if I get anywhere..

Dizzyduck

TW do have to test the meter to prove the fault before they can back charge you.