Water bill impacting credit file

Wright46

Can anyone help, advise, I am at my wits end!!
Desperatly in need of advice and to find out if this is a known issue.
Basically DWR Y Welsh Water started recording on my credit file from Sept / Oct 2015, as of May 2016 they have updated the annual amount due on my credit file which is the total amount due for the year. This appears to be a new practice.
This has had a detrimental impact on my credit file and dropped my rating from 898 to 789 (Good to Fair) I have queried this and raised a complaint to be told this is correct. How can this be, my bill is paid as per the payments set out on my bill throughout the course of the year so it baffles me how this can have such a bad impact.
In addition, there seems to be inconsistencies to how they report it. If anyone can shed any light on how there's is reported this would be welcome. I have friends and family who have showed me there credit files and it is just the monthly amount that shows as outstanding on their credit reports and not the annual amount, but this was queried and they refused to comment on other peoples reports. My argument is that this will continue to happen year on year at the start of the financial year and if I was to apply for credit at that point I would be viewed as a potential risk to lend to. This shows on my credit file as revolving credit such as a credit card / store card when this is a utility bill.
They have advised me that monthly payers will have such effect but if you are on a water meter then it reports it only twice a year and due to you paying in arrears it will most likely not have the same affect.
It appears that if you pay your bill on time each month as set out on the annual bill it will impact you regardless because you pay monthly. Surely this can not be correct as this will be effecting millions of people who most probably would not be aware of such impact.
I have been working really hard to get my rating to where it was (898) and this just feels so wrong.

Really would appreciate any help / advice anyone can offer or where I can escalate this. I have also raised a complaint with Experian to see if it is something to do with the way they calculate people's scores but not yet had a response.
Thanks.

Cardew

I know little about credit rating scoring.

However you should be aware that annual water bills for unmetered properties are due in advance. Although in theory the whole annual amount is due in April, they normally only take it 6 months in advance. i.e. on 1st April payment to 30th Sept is due, and on 01 October a further 6 months to 31 March is due. However they will allow payment by monthly installment.

It is not a right for customers to pay in monthly instalments. If there are any problems with payment the whole 12 months is due immediately. So if you miss one payment, they can(and will) make you liable for the whole yearly bill.

It is similar to Council Tax where the full amount is due in advance.