Thames water bill

jamtartmart

We're paying £533/ year on a fixed rate with Thames Water

We live in a 2 bed flat, 2 sinks and 1 bath/shower in the flat. No dishwasher.

I imagine our water usage is fairly low. I challenged the price in November last year after realising my parents who live a house twice as big with all the amenities are paying less on meter than us! Thames Water just gave me some usual spiel.

I recognise getting a meter might be the best way forward but is there any way I could challenge this in the hope to claim back unfair overcharging.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

jamtartmart wrote: »

We're paying £533/ year on a fixed rate with Thames Water

We live in a 2 bed flat, 2 sinks and 1 bath/shower in the flat. No dishwasher.

I imagine our water usage is fairly low. I challenged the price in November last year after realising my parents who live a house twice as big with all the amenities are paying less on meter than us! Thames Water just gave me some usual spiel.

I recognise getting a meter might be the best way forward but is there any way I could challenge this in the hope to claim back unfair overcharging.

You don't give details but I suspect that Thames Water's "usual spiel" was correct.

Cardew

Thames Water are not 'unfair overcharging' if they are basing your charges on the Rateable Value(RV).


Your RV was set by the council rating valuation team in the period prior to April 1990 and the water company are bound by The Water Act(of Parliament) and thus have no option but to use that RV in the charge they levy.


There is no mechanism to change your RV; and RV is nothing to do with Council Tax Bands.


Why don't you apply for a meter? It doesn't matter if you are a tenant, the landlord cannot prevent you applying.

macman

And, since you can always revert to RV billing in the first 12 months, it's a no-brainer.
What your parents pay in a different property, probably in a different water region (since prices vary up to 250% by region), really has no relevance.

jamtartmart

My parents live 2 miles away so highly unlikely to be different "region".

'Unfair' is fairly subjective and given they're a profitable business constantly driving prices up. Nor does a valuation done 25 years ago suffice as fair judgement.

Thanks for the replies but i'm just going to go the meter route. Don't think i'll have a case by the sounds of it.

macman

Did you actually read post 3? The RV was set by the VO prior to 1990 and the water co. have a statutory duty to bill you based on that rateable value. Unless your billing calculation is incorrect, on what grounds do you believe you can challenge the billing, since you have been correctly charged based on the RV?
The profits that water co's. can make are strictly regulated on an annual basis; it's not a free market, because there is no choice of supplier.
The fact that your parents pay less and (presumably) use more water should tell you that you will make a considerable saving by switching to metered billing.
NB: nor can you claim back the saving you would have made had you had a meter fitted at an earlier date.