Faulty Water Meter

CML67

Hi guys, new to this forum business, so forgive me if I don't get this spot on first time.

I have a faulty water meter. It is NOT one of the latest Smart Meters you can/can't choose to have, but one of the ones that were installed by the water authority approx 3 years ago, that allow a car/van to simply drive by and electronically receive data etc. It was installed approx 36 months or so ago. I pay monthly approx £120 for my water and around a year ago, when checking on my paper water statement, it read that I was approx £2500 in credit !! When I then checked the water reading it said 000007 etc. This had been the reading on ALL the previous statements. SO.... the new meter that the local Southern Water Authority is faulty and has been since day 1 of fitting it.
I have TWICE called them to notify them of the situation, once a year ago and then again 4 months ago. But to date, the have done nothing about it....
1: I'm a little bit worried that they try to claim more money saying I have been underpaying.
2: Where do I stand with regards to the now approaching £4000 that is in credit with them on my water account?? Thoughts and opinions on the best way forward please.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]How was £120 a month arrived at? Sounds a lot of water, I pay £12 with a meter.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Presumably you will eventually have to pay based on some sort of estimate but unless you are running a garden centre I would have thought its more likely they will owe you a rebate.[/FONT]

Cardew

Is this a business or a domestic account?

There is no point in phoning; send an email and letter.

CML67

It is a domestic account. I live in a 5 bedroom detached property with wife and 2 teenage daughters....
I think what i'm really saying is that surely they NEED to fit a new meter, but don't want to as they 'probably' will have to refund my money. A friend mentioned that they can no longer 'claim that you owe X amount similar to a neighbouring property' they have to prove your usage and lets be honest, they are going to struggle aren't they..!?? Thoughts..??

House_Martin

It is quite common for Utility suppliers to have to deal with a stopped electric or gas meter.
Once they replace the meter they simply do a few weeks of checking your actual usage or estimate on accurate past usage.
You must be a multi millionaire to allow a monthly water bill of £120 to go unnoticed for so long to build up a credit of that level. Its ridiculously high, more of a business level than an average domestic user.
My monthly direct debit, and its accurate, is only £8 and I do not try madly to save water.apart from using a hose to fill my bird baths up and to chuck a bucket of water over the car now and then I don`t waste it on the garden
You will be getting a hell of rebate in a few months time.
Like the gas and electric suppliers they may hold historical usage on the property and go by that to begin with rather than a few weeks forward usage.

CML67

To be fair, as i previously mentioned, i noticed it after a year or so and upon notifying the water company they have done nothing to sort out the problem. Whilst I realise they could go on historical bills, i was told that a new law recently came into force stating that they could not claim for unpaid/underpaid water bills of more than 12 months prior.

So my thoughts would be to notify them in writing, by hand and email and ask them to replace the faulty meter. The meter that they then install MUST by law have a ZERO reading etc. THEN if they wish to claim for ANY historical unpaid usage, to prove what i had used retrospectively and bill me. But as the would surely had to PROVE past usage, without an accurate reading, how on earth would that be feasible..??

Cardew

The size of your property is not a factor when metered.

Average consumption for 4 people is 220m3 PA. With Southern Water that would cost approx £870pa.

Whilst I realise they could go on historical bills, i was told that a new law recently came into force stating that they could not claim for unpaid/underpaid water bills of more than 12 months prior.

Are you sure that the above is not for gas and electricity? not mentioned in this 2018 Ofwat publication.

https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/your-water-bill/problems-paying-your-bill/

As suggested contact the Consumer Council for Water


https://www.ccwater.org.uk

CML67

You could quite probably be right. In that it almost certainly is Gas/Electricity that a friend heard about. In an ideal world, i would simply go to another supplier, cancel my current one and demand my refund/rebate, but with water, its not that simple.

House_Martin

I would bet that, like the gas and electric meters its buried away in the T and Cs that any fault on the meter, and that includes a stopped meter, then the occupier must inform the supplier as soon as possible.
All the new electric gas and electric meters installed, and I ve seen many thousands , rarely start at 00000.Most gas meters start at 99999. Seems a strange rule because it should nt make any difference if it starts at a few digits after zeros so long as the start reading is registered, as it will be.
So that would make the 12 month back billing rule, if it exists with water ( its 6 years with gas and electricity ) invalid because its your fault for not checking the meter and letting the supplier know in a reasonable time frame..
Everyone should be checking their water meters , it can lead to massive bills if there are unknown leaks and they always claim every drop of a leak after the meter.