Do you want to be able to choose your water company?

marleyboy

who we get our water from is decided by where we live, not who we choose.

Well considering it falls from above where we live, common sense would tell me that buying my water from down South and have it pumped up North might not prove cost effective.

Or are we to suggest that this natural abundance of liquid that drops out of the sky can be imported\exported back to us at cost from as far as France or Germany?

anotheruser

kenville wrote: »

In principle, I'd like to be able to choose providers since I believe it will improve prices via competition.

Has that worked with the current energy market?
No.

Unless there's a government not-for-profit company keeping prices lower, there's no point in privatising water companies.
Why there isn't some sort of cap like rail tickets I don't know...

Smodlet

If we are talking about choice, why do some water authorities force people to have water meters whilst others do not? Why, because your vendor chose to have one are you stuck with one for ever more because someone else made a choice you disagree with? Would choosing to be invoiced by a different water authority change this?

We should all have the choice whether or not to have water meters, irrespective of what a previous owner of a property chose. I have read on this forum that they save some people money; cannot see how. If you do have one, through choice or having it foisted on you, you had better not care about hygiene. You had better not have a large family. You had most certainly better not be a keen gardener and, if you are insane enough to want a water feature, well, expect to be sucked dry by Anglian Water.

*~Zephyr~*

I think it is more important to have some clarity over the charges water companies impose. Why do the costs vary so greatly between regions?

I live in Cardiff. Officially, the wettest city in the UK. We have webbed feet and reservoirs coming out of our ears. And yet we pay such a lot for our water.

I don't have the metered rates on me right now, but unmetered annual water rates for my house were 3 times more than my brother's in Birmingham. 3 times the price! That's excessive, surely?!

If we were made to understand the reasons why the cost of water services varies so much between regions I'd be much happier. Instead I suspect that Dwr Cymru are just ripping us off!

*~Zephyr~*

Smodlet wrote: »

We should all have the choice whether or not to have water meters, irrespective of what a previous owner of a property chose. I have read on this forum that they save some people money; cannot see how.

Here in Cardiff our unmetered charge was £650 a year. We had a meter fitted as soon as posibly after moving in and we pay £336 a year metered. Just under half the cost of unmetered. That's how people save money!

Smodlet

Which, Zephyr, only goes to show just how great regional variations are. You live in the "wettest city"; I hail from the driest region. Our next door neighbours, two adults and three teenagers, paid a little more than a third of what we two adults alone paid, for their water. We did five loads of washing a week... she did five loads a day! We paid for every drop we used. They paid the same regardless of how much they used.

I think there does seem to be a theme that, the drier a region is, the more the water authority push for water meters and the higher the charges are. That is from reading posts on here but I think the "blanket" approach that water meters save customers money is completely erroneous and misleading. We must have paid thousands of pounds we did not need to over eleven years of a metered water supply.

Ofwat seems to be trying to sell this whatever it is on consumer choice. All I am asking for is choice regarding water meters. If they work for you, of course you should have the choice to have one. If they cost you a fortune and are not obligatory, you should have the choice to go back to good, old water rates... and they should not be obligatory for any unless they are for all.

*~Zephyr~*

Smodlet wrote: »

... and they should not be obligatory for any unless they are for all.

Agreed. We should all be paying for every drop we use. Sames s we pay for the energy we use. It's the only fair way.

Smodlet

Still voting for choice, although our circumstances are now so different from what they were. The water rates where we are now are so cheap (pity we have to filter every drop due to the chlorine (?) levels) I would not dream of having a water meter, while I have a choice...

I thought the whole point of this thread was about consumer choice... try giving that to us regarding water meters, then ask again!

Cardew

Smodlet wrote: »

If we are talking about choice, why do some water authorities force people to have water meters whilst others do not? Why, because your vendor chose to have one are you stuck with one for ever more because someone else made a choice you disagree with? Would choosing to be invoiced by a different water authority change this?

We should all have the choice whether or not to have water meters, irrespective of what a previous owner of a property chose. I have read on this forum that they save some people money; cannot see how. If you do have one, through choice or having it foisted on you, you had better not care about hygiene. You had better not have a large family. You had most certainly better not be a keen gardener and, if you are insane enough to want a water feature, well, expect to be sucked dry by Anglian Water.

If I were unmetered - i.e. charges based on Rateable Value(RV) I would pay £1,615.74 pa. Metered, with 3 adults in the house, and using slightly above the average consumption, I pay around £500pa.

When meters were made mandatory for new properties in April 1990, property owners could elect to remain on RV based charges. However The Water Act gave water companies the power to insist on fitting meters on change of occupant, the declared intent being that the proportion of properties with meters would gradually increase.

However most water companies simply didn't bother enforcing that provision, and neither did Ofwat. There was simply no financial incentive for the companies to fit meters as their revenue, and hence profit is fixed by Ofwat - provide they meet certain targets.

IMO it is quite obvious that we should all be metered and pay for what we use.

zaax

Unless there is some sort of national grid for water so it can moved from places of plenty (north) to places lacking (south), water provision in places that are lacking is going to be expensive.