Water Bill - estimated or submitted reading? 15 January 2017 at 5:19PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Water Bills 3 replies 3.5K views

mortenart

Hi all,

My water bill is due again - Southwest Water have sent an email asking me to submit a water reading, or they will use an estimated bill, based on previous usage.
I have only just moved into my house - before, I was just staying there for a week, every couple of months, so the estimated bill based on that has been very low. Now I am living in the house, I'm wondering if I should stick to the estimated bill, or submit my own reading - which is quite likely to result in a higher bill - but will I have to pay for my actual water usage somewhere down the line anyway?
Many thanks for your help.
Giles

matelodave

Yes, by continuing with estimated readings, you'll end up with a ginormous bill when it actually gets read so you'll be better off getting it right from the beginning.

mortenart

Yes, that's what I suspected. Thanks very much Dave.

bumpercars99

Your other option is not to bother reading the meter if it's difficult to access. You can keep the estimated bill and just ask them to increase your direct debit. If you're not long in the property with increased usage, the actual reading probably won't make that much difference and you'll still have significantly underpaid when you get your next bill.