Is £900 for an unmetered bill right? 1 May 2015 at 7:29PM in Water bills 13 replies 1.7K views

knc

Hello, I have recently retired and am trying to reorganise my finances. I looked at my water bill and it is £880 a year-unmetered. I am with United Utilities. I understand that rates vary from company to company but bearing in mind an average bill (according to MSE) from UU is £411 this seems incredibly excessive. Also my property is based on council tax band A so if this correlates to rateable value then it should be below average? I have been paying this amount for a few years now. Thank you for reading and any help in advance.

matelodave

Council tax band has no bearing on the rateable value so you could easily have a high rateable value although a low council tax band.

Have you thought about getting a water meter, you could request to have one installed and if you don't find it saves you any money you could have it removed or disregarded provided you request to revert within 12 months.

My RV water bill would be well over £600 whereas my metered bill is only £300 and we are both at home all day, water the garden and wash cars & a caravan.

knc

I am seriously considering the water meter, but as you have said yourself, your RV bill would 'only' be £600. Mine is nearly £900. Obviously I thought about querying this with UU but I wanted to be armed with the right information first. I mean it wouldn't be the first time a big corporation screwed over it's customers would it!:rotfl:

YKay

That seems very expensive, ours is £18 per month unmetered, 2 adults that are home all day most days.

matelodave

Here are the UU charges for 2015/16 - do your own sums to see if your bills are correct http://www.unitedutilities.com/documents/Household_charges_2015-2016_at_a_glance.pdf

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

To pay £888 suggests a Rateable Value(RV) of around £330 in UU area.

That would be par for a nice detached house.

I am intrigued why a property with highish RV is only Band A for council tax.

It is fairly common for a house to have a low RV and a high Council tax band. This is because when the RV was assessed - most in 1973 - the house was un-modernised but has since been extended and modernised. I have posted before that I know of an almost derelict 2 bed cottage that that was demolished and a 7 bed house built(with full planning permission etc) but retained the same low RV.

However it is very rare for a high RV property to have a low Council Tax.

Unless your property is a smallish flat in a converted house. When that happens water meters should be fitted, however sometimes the small flat retains the same RV of the original house. This can mean one flat is the only one paying water charges and the rest pay nothing; or all the flats are paying the original RV.

KNC, What sort of property do you have?

knc

matelodave-the sums all add up on the bill. I.e. the standing charge and RV calculations are correct. I'm just questioning whether the R.V. figure they are using is right. Especially when you consider my bill is double what it would be if they can't fit a meter and use an assessed bill based on a semi detached house which is what mine is.

Cardew, thank you for the welcome. My house is a 4 bedroom semi detached house, built just before 1990 actually. It's a comfortable abode but it's nothing grand or anything like that. I wouldn't be concerned about the bill if I lived in a mansion lol!

So does £328 for my R.V. seem right?

Finefoot

I pay £276 a year unmetered,

macman

There is no procedure for challenging the RV: it is a historical value set by the VA and that is what UU have to bill you on.
As advised, get a meter-since you can have it disregarded in the first 12m, you cannot lose. If it cannot be fitted (unlikely with a large semi-detached house), you can apply for assessed billing instead.
It's a no-brainer.

Cardew

knc wrote: »

matelodave-the sums all add up on the bill. I.e. the standing charge and RV calculations are correct. I'm just questioning whether the R.V. figure they are using is right. Especially when you consider my bill is double what it would be if they can't fit a meter and use an assessed bill based on a semi detached house which is what mine is.

Cardew, thank you for the welcome. My house is a 4 bedroom semi detached house, built just before 1990 actually. It's a comfortable abode but it's nothing grand or anything like that. I wouldn't be concerned about the bill if I lived in a mansion lol!

So does £328 for my R.V. seem right?

Yes a £328 RV would not be unusual for a 4 bed semi. As it was built just before 1990 it presumably would have had 'modern facilities' i.e. Central heating, nice bathroom & kitchen etc. The area and facilities affect the RV as does a garage.


What is surprising is the A Band Council Tax.


My estimate of a £330RV was pretty accurate(pat on back). However that means you are being charged for Surface Water Drainage.(SWD) i.e. rainwater from gutters/ground enter the sewer system instead of to a soakaway.


For a house built just before 1990 it would be unusual for planning permission to be granted unless SWD was to a soakaway.


However the default position of the Water companies was that they would charge for SWD and it was up to the occupant to claim relief from that charge.


If you were successful in your claim your charges would reduce by £132 a year. They would also reduce if you were metered.


So you need to investigate SWD and if necessary make a claim. It is also pertinent to point out that there is a new ruling by Ofwat that if UU could have 'reasonably known' that SWD should not have been charged you can claim back 6 years, or from the time you occupied if less than 6 years. 'Reasonably known' could be defined as other similar houses in the area(preferably on the same estate) have been granted relief from SWD.


On a question of a meter, your current charges of £880 would cover consumption of 257 cubic metres a year. That is roughly average consumption for 5 people.

barbedhook

I live in a 2 bed roomed terraced house in band b council tax on a water meter our bill is £280 per annum I work full time wife home all day .get a meter fitted .