Waterboard wont backdate all money they have overcharged me

fishingmadmike

Just had a ding dong with Yorkshire water, They sent me a letter saying they are reducing my bill because a neighbour informed them that their home was not connected to the sewer for surface water drainage, and as i had a similar property, they would reduced my bill, but.....they would only go back to last April 2013. (so I wasn't charged anything for 2 quarters.)

So when i asked why not give me what they owe me for the past 5 years that i have been over charged, they said because it is "YOUR responsibility to inform us, of this fact, re surface water drainage not being connected to the sewer, because we just charge everyone the same unless they inform us" and if you do, we will only go back to the start of the financial year.

How the heck do i know where the water goes, the pipes are underground!! and why should we have to do this. I feel robbed and feel they are hiding this information and taking money wrongly. Can they refuse to give me back what they owe

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.


There are literally hundreds of posts on this subject - do a search for Surface Water Drainage.

Firstly the whole business of payment for Surface Water Drainage(SWD) is a disgrace. However it is not the fault of the water companies.

This is because when water was privatised the Act of Parliament decreed that the 'default position' was that all properties would be charged for SWD and individual owners would have to claim relief.

That position has be upheld by Ofwat - the government appointed Regulator.

If you don't know 'where the water goes'(and loads of people don't) how do you expect the water companies to know? They could hardly have been expected to carry out an inspection of 20 million properties.

So you have not been overcharged - you didn't claim relief. Also detail of how to claim is sent out(in the small print) with the bills.

It is also worth mentioning that it doesn't matter to the water companies if you claim relief from SWD charges or not. The revenue and hence profit they make is strictly controlled by the Regulator. So if they get, say, £1million less from SWD charges, they can charge an extra £1million on other charges!

So what you were told by the water company is correct. The only chance you have of backdating is to prove that the water company knew that SWD charges didn't apply to your property - but proving it is the difficulty.

Please don't think I am defending the water companies as they are in a win/win situation. If you want to make a fuss about the stupidity and unfairness of SWD, firstly blame Maggie - and then complain to your MP.

fishingmadmike

Thanks for that, very interesting

Candy53

When we moved into our property, we didn't realize our surface water went into a soak away, one of our neighbours told us, so then we contacted our water company.

One way of knowing, is if all your pipes from your guttering go straight underground, then the water goes to a soak away. If the pipes go into a drain like the kitchen pipes, it's going into the sewerage drains.



Candy

brewerdave

To get the discount,every single drop of rainwater has to go into soakaways.I applied a couple of years ago because all my guttering runs to soakaways but was refused because there is an open grid on the kichen/utility room outflow and some small quantity of rainwater from the patio gets into the sewer via this!!:(

GingerBob_3

Candy53 wrote: »

When we moved into our property, we didn't realize our surface water went into a soak away, one of our neighbours told us, so then we contacted our water company.

One way of knowing, is if all your pipes from your guttering go straight underground, then the water goes to a soak away. If the pipes go into a drain like the kitchen pipes, it's going into the sewerage drains.



Candy

Not necessarily. All our pipes go straight into the ground. There are no drains at all outside the house. However, as I understand it, there are two drainage networks (modern housing estate), one for sewage and the other for rain water.

Cardew

GingerBob wrote: »

Not necessarily. All our pipes go straight into the ground. There are no drains at all outside the house. However, as I understand it, there are two drainage networks (modern housing estate), one for sewage and the other for rain water.

Correct:

There are normally two forms of drainage - surface water and foul water.
Surface water drains, or 'storm drains' carry rainwater from road surfaces and rooftops into local rivers and streams and flows into the river untreated.
Foul water drains carry waste water from toilets, sinks, baths and household appliances to the sewage treatment works. This water is treated before it can safely flow back into river and streams.

However, some houses have a combined drainage system meaning that foul and surface water all drain to the foul sewer. If this is the case, all the water from your house goes to a sewage plant for treatment.

It is only when none of your surface water(from gutters, grounds etc) enters either the foul or storm drains, but goes to a soakaway, can you claim relief from the Surface Water charge.