should I confess to a faulty water meter

z-lister

Ive received a rebate of £200 from yorkshire water and my direct debit reduced by half. With no changes to my lifestyle over the last year it looks like my water meter is running very slow, ok its hardly moved since checking the last two weeks, now I'm more than happy with this situation but am worried that this will catch up with me at some point, so has anyone had this happen to them and if not can anyone tell me what to expect thanks.

Nick_C

Do you have the expertise to know whether your meter is running correctly or not? Maybe it was running fast before? In your position, I would expect Yorkshire Water to spot any problem and rectify it.

flashg67

If you do, and it is faulty, I can't see how they could bill you based on how long they think it was faulty from? In that case, a good case for keeping schtum?

Skipper_Stu

Good for you, cheapy water,I had a similar thing in Spain, in fact all my irrigation water was free the previous owner had bypassed the meter, which isgreat when you have 1 acre of garden filled with trees, bushes and plants!!!

z-lister

thanks for the advice I've been watching it closely and its hit/miss sometimes it runs as normal and others not at all, so I am going to keep schtum until they realise. I will post again if they ever find out.

Beautiful_smile!

z-lister wrote: »

thanks for the advice I've been watching it closely and its hit/miss sometimes it runs as normal and others not at all, so I am going to keep schtum until they realise. I will post again if they ever find out.

Hi!. My street have been having meters for nearly 2 years. They carried on taking £62 monthly from me. After a year or so, i asked my neighbours if they were on the meter and they said yes and they have been paying less than half since on the meter. I phoned water co. and they said that my meter was not counting and they will change it. 3 meters later, still running slow. I demanded money back since i was supposed to be on the meter and I got over £300 back which is not great, but it is something.

TheSaint_2

legally the terms and conditions will give them the right to charge you back usage based on what you use, so yes you are taking a big risk if they ever check your meter is working correctly.


but more importantly, what is the price of honesty? clearly you do not have very good morals as the price of your integrity is not much at all. it is easy to argue that their charges are unfair or that it is a faceless corporation, but think of the impact of your actions on everyone else. if everyone was dishonest our entire society would cease to function.

GingerBob_3

TheSaint wrote: »

legally the terms and conditions will give them the right to charge you back usage based on what you use, so yes you are taking a big risk if they ever check your meter is working correctly.


but more importantly, what is the price of honesty? clearly you do not have very good morals as the price of your integrity is not much at all. it is easy to argue that their charges are unfair or that it is a faceless corporation, but think of the impact of your actions on everyone else. if everyone was dishonest our entire society would cease to function.

I don't have any, but I'm not metered, so maybe that explains it.

Anyway, what a paragon of virtue you are. Ever thought of becoming a preacher? Hold on! "TheSaint". I see you're already well above that.

Ms_Chocaholic

The very same happened to my uncle when he lived in a sheltered housing complex but this time it was for his gas heating. He paid for his heating via a card machine in the entrance hall to the building. One winter he was experiencing problems with his heating, several engineers came out and eventually fixed it but from that moment on the credit on his meter hardly moved!

Nick_C

TheSaint wrote: »

legally the terms and conditions will give them the right to charge you back usage based on what you use, so yes you are taking a big risk if they ever check your meter is working correctly.


but more importantly, what is the price of honesty? clearly you do not have very good morals as the price of your integrity is not much at all. it is easy to argue that their charges are unfair or that it is a faceless corporation, but think of the impact of your actions on everyone else. if everyone was dishonest our entire society would cease to function.

This is not a question of honesty at all. It is for the supplier to ensure that the bills are accurate. The consumer in this case has not taken any action to avoid paying what is lawfully due. There is no obligation on a debtor to inform their creditors that they have not paid everything they should pay. This is a Money Saving Forum. If the OP is underpaying, they can put the money in an interest bearing account and pay any excess if it is ever demanded. If its not demanded within 6 years, then it cannot be reclaimed.

This is the way business operates. No employer I've worked for has actively gone out telling its creditors "we owe you this money, you've not sent us a bill".

There is no reason to believe that the OP is dishonest or will try to evade payment if it is demanded, but to raise the issue now would simply be naive and foolish.

BobQ

TheSaint wrote: »

legally the terms and conditions will give them the right to charge you back usage based on what you use, so yes you are taking a big risk if they ever check your meter is working correctly.

They will have great difficulty in doing this as they have contracted to provide a metered service by installing a meter. They are required to provide a meter that meets legal accuracy requirements. All they could say is that the meter was faulty on the day they checked it (and presumably removed it). They could not prove it was faulty the month before unless they tested it, and even if they could it was their obligation to deal with it.

but more importantly, what is the price of honesty? clearly you do not have very good morals as the price of your integrity is not much at all. it is easy to argue that their charges are unfair or that it is a faceless corporation, but think of the impact of your actions on everyone else. if everyone was dishonest our entire society would cease to function.

This is an advice forum not a place question somebody's morals or integrity. Like you I would probably drop them a line saying I was wondering if the meter was accurate, but even that might create issues for the customer. For all we know the reason it is low is that they set it correctly last time they checked it.