Thames Water bill just increased >19% 3 December 2015 at 11:04AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Water Bills 19 replies 2.8K views

itm2

I just received my annual statement from Thames Water, and it shows an increase in my monthly charge from £26 to £31 (more than 19%). I have a metered account, and the water usage patterns in my household have remained constant for several years (i.e. we are not using significantly more than we were 5 years ago).

I have queried it with Thames Water, but in the meantime I was wondering whether anyone else had had a similiar increase from Thames Water?

GetRealBabe

Hi

Same here. My DD has increased from £12 to £15 a month. Will use less i.e shorter showers and see if the DD goes back to £12.

matelodave

Have you checked your consumption to see if its increased - you can only do that by reading the meter yourself. Waiting six or twelve months for a bill doesn't really give you much of an idea of how your usage is varying.

itm2

matelodave wrote: »

Have you checked your consumption to see if its increased - you can only do that by reading the meter yourself. Waiting six or twelve months for a bill doesn't really give you much of an idea of how your usage is varying.

No I haven't, but clearly I need to start. Curiously Thames Water never actually quote a meter reading on their statements, even though they say that their estimate is based on a reading.

IIRC this happened last year and they reverted my monthly payment back to more-or-less its previous value after I queried it. It's not that I don't trust them, but....

Cardew

The title of this thread is could be misleading, your 'bill' hasn't increased by 19% - your Direct Debit has increased.


Water/sewerage charges for Thames have increased by 1% for 2015/16 but last year it was 11%.


The normal reason for a large increase in a DD is a debit balance at the end of the previous year; and this is paid off this year.

matelodave

Check your bills against meter readings - if they don't come and read the meter then you do it and send the reading to them.


IMO you should never accept an estimated bill - always query it and get it corrected.

itm2

matelodave wrote: »

Check your bills against meter readings - if they don't come and read the meter then you do it and send the reading to them.


IMO you should never accept an estimated bill - always query it and get it corrected.

I'm not sure how I can check this statement against meter readings when it contains neither the reading they used for reference nor the charging rate. It shows my account balance as £25.46, which would account for £2 of the £5 increase I suppose.

Cardew

When paying by DD an account balance is meaningless unless it is the balance at the date the meter is read(or estimated).


I could be £200 in credit today and next week get a bill for £250 and be £50 in debit.

itm2

Cardew wrote: »

When paying by DD an account balance is meaningless unless it is the balance at the date the meter is read(or estimated).

Not quite meaningless in this case, as it was used directly in their estimation of charges for the year ahead, and hence in calculation of my new monthly DD:

New monthly DD = (account balance + next year's charges estimate) / 12

Cardew

itm2 wrote: »

Not quite meaningless in this case, as it was used directly in their estimation of charges for the year ahead, and hence in calculation of my new monthly DD:

New monthly DD = (account balance + next year's charges estimate) / 12

You appear to have changed your post; you stated you were £25.46 in credit - it now appears you are that amount in debit??

My point however was that you said earlier:

I'm not sure how I can check this statement against meter readings when it contains neither the reading they used for reference

So how do they calculate any debit/credit balance?

itm2

Cardew wrote: »

So how do they calculate any debit/credit balance?

Presumably they base it on a meter reading which they chose not to share on this statement, hence making it impossible for me to assess whether the balance is correct, and whether the DD schedule for the year ahead is reasonable.

The fact that they reduced last year's monthly payment significantly after I questioned it suggests that their arithmetic involves an element of speculation which perhaps errs too much on the side of caution on their part (to the detriment of the customer of course).

BTW - sorry I did edit my post earlier, a couple of minutes after posting, when I realised that a positive balance didn't actually represent a credit. Unfortunately I didn't correct it quickly enough!