Have you a soakaway? Please check !!

zolabud123

I live in East Sussex and my water provider is Southern Water.
I have lived here 8 years and have a water meter and live alone.
This makes a huge difference to my meter readings and consequently I am a 'low user'.

The various standing charges make my bill too high in my eyes so I rang the water board last week and asked as I live in a small block of flats,is the bill adjusted as we all share the same roof and drainpipes etc.

I was told to check if I have a soakaway. If I have one my water bill would be lowered and I may even get a rebate.

I rang the council who sent me a mail confirming I do indeed have a soakaway so I forwarded the mail to southern water with my account number .

I just rang them to see how my request was going and was told that I would get one year backdated. That's £23.

I asked why it was only 1 year and she said it may be less as the financial year has already started.

I asked why I didn't know about this before and she pointed me to the home page of Southern water where right at the bottom in tiny writing is this:

https://www.southernwater.co.uk/surface-water-drainage

And if you click on the link at the bottom....:

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/surfacewaterdrainage/rebates

It depend who is your water provider but anyone who wants to find out if they have a soakaway should contact them. They usually have a map saying who has and who hasn't got a soakaway.

You will get a small rebate and your future bills will be reduced.

OK. It isn't much but it all helps doesn't it...

I shall be contacting OFWAT about this as I think it sucks only being able to claim back 1 years worth of overcharging.

Good Luck !!

Cardew

There are numerous threads and a Martin Lewis article about relief from Surface Water Drainage(SWD) - mainly to a soakaway although it obviously does no harm to mention it again for new readers.


However a couple of points on your accusation of overcharging:

Firstly the Water Act(of Parliament) laid down that the 'default position' would be that water companies would charge as if surface water entered the sewer system and the customer would have to claim relief from this charge if their water went to a soakaway or stream etc. The water companies had no discretion on this matter and they could hardly be expected to inspect some 20 million properties.


Secondly in financial terms it makes absolutely no difference to the income or profit of water companies if they charge for SWD or not. The Regulator(ofwat) tightly controls the revenue, and hence profit, that each company can raise. So if they lost, say, £1million from SWD payments, they simply can increase other charges to raise the original amount of revenue.


If I sound like I am defending the water companies, nothing could be further from the truth. The whole privatisation of the water industry was a farce and the SWD saga is just one of many anomalies.


It is worth mentioning that it was an ofwat edict that relief of SWD charges would only be backdated to the beginning of the financial year. However they have recently softened their stance and stated that if the water company should have known that the property should not be paying SWD charges then they can rebate for up to the last 6 years.

Sometimes your company does know, or might reasonably be expected to have known, that your property was not connected to its sewerage system for surface water drainage. In this case we would expect it to apply the rebate (and refund any money overpaid) from the date at which it knew (or might reasonably be expected to have known) the property was not connected.

However they don't define how the water companies 'should have known'. I recently advised a friend how to get relief from SWD. She had lived, as a first owner of a new house on an new estate for 18 years. However despite admitting that other houses on the estate had had claimed relief from SWD for years, they refused to backdate her relief for over a year. Despite going to the Consumer Council for Water they would not budge from their position that they were not aware that her property had a soakaway.

zolabud123

Wow... You certainly know your stuff don't you.

The only reason why I questioned this was because the lady who I spoke to this morning said I didn't need to contact the council they have maps which show where the soakaways are.
I asked why I was advised to contact the council and she said she would have a word with my previous person (she could see who it was as it is on my account,when I rang the first time) She said he should have known this.

I know it is unreasonable to expect the Water Board to contact individuals but it isn't exactly visible on the home page...

Thanks for your very interesting reply.

I had a feeling it had already been covered.

sniggings

Worth asking if any of the other tenants have had the reduction,if so then you can claim more than a year, as if the water company should have reasonably known you had a soak away they have to refund you from the time they knew or should have known.

zolabud123

I printed out a letter to the other 9 people in my block explaining we have a soakaway and Southern Water owe us all money and our future bills will be reduced and Robert who lived in number 2 was the only person who came up with his details so I passed it on to Southern water along with the e mail the council sent me saying I did have a soakaway.

My rebate ??

£5.07.

I rang and asked how they came to that rebate and they said it was from the beginning of the financial year.

Which means that £5 was for 3 months. Saving £20 per year.

I think that is quite a good reduction although the rebate was rather small....

mariecc_2

This may be a silly question but if the properties have a soak away into the ground away from properties down pipes, why pay for surface water at all......

I my self have recently found out off severn trent workmen my surface water goes out into the field at back of house and into a brook.stream..

they are an absolutley aweful company so not looking forward to it..

Cardew

mariecc wrote: »

This may be a silly question but if the properties have a soak away into the ground away from properties down pipes, why pay for surface water at all......

I my self have recently found out off severn trent workmen my surface water goes out into the field at back of house and into a brook.stream..

they are an absolutley aweful company so not looking forward to it..

Have you read post 2?


If all water goes into a soakaway or a brook you don't pay for surface water.


Under the law(The Water Act)the water companies have no option but to charge for surface water drainage unless the property owner claims relief.

mariecc_2

Cardew wrote: »

Have you read post 2?


If all water goes into a soakaway or a brook you don't pay for surface water.


Under the law(The Water Act)the water companies have no option but to charge for surface water drainage unless the property owner claims relief.

I always see these things, but when I approach companies they come back either with plausible answers which, I can't argue with or straight out and say no... so I give I'm not any good with things like this.... but will try my best.

[Deleted User]

My 100 year old terraced house has a soakaway at the front for rain water only as there are no drains at the front. So all rain water from one half of the house plus the extension does not go into the sewer system. Wonder if I can get a discount. :cool: