Pandemic (work from home) water bill increased by 58%

w00519773

Anglian Water have advised me that my direct debit has increased to £30 PCM from £19 PCM this month.  This is a 58% increase!
I moved into my 3 bed semi detached house in 2014  (always lived alone) and my bill was always approximately £19 PCM.  Anglian Water take a meter reading every February and use this reading to recalculate the new bill starting in May.  I have an on suite bathroom; a main bathroom and a ground floor WC.  I have worked from home since March 2019 so I was expecting a bigger increase this year, but was surprised by 58%.  I would be interested to hear from others about water bill increases due to working at home during the pandemic.  I have looked here: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/save-water/water-usage-calculator/# - it tells me my bill should be approximately £21 PCM.  Anglian Water have sent me a hyperlink to look for leaks, which I will try: http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/household/water-supply/leakage/checking-for-leaks.aspx

matelodave

Your direct debit is not your water bill - it's acontribution towards the bill based on an estimate of how water they think you'll use in a year. Just like your DD for gas and electricity.

You need to check the actual bill and compare your water consumption (in cubic meters) against your consumption in previous years. You will probably find, that if you've used a lot more in the last year then your previous DD may not have covered the cost and your bill is acually in debit.

AW will have adjusted your DD to pay back the debt and assumed that you might be using a bit more water this year and increased the DD in anticipation. They certainly haven't increase water charges by 58% (it's nearer 2-3%)

You can work it aout yourself and get them to change the DD if you think it's too high - you can access your water account on the AW website.

The water usage calculator is just a rough guess at how much people use to give you some idea of the average. If you have more showes or baths than average then you'll use more.

Like gas and electricity you should compare the units  that it's measured in (kwh for gas & leccy, cu.m for water) rather than ££'s

macman

To state the obvious, every time you flush the WC at home (and then wash your hands of course), it's going on your water bill rather than at the expense of your employer. Perhaps you are taking a leisurely bath, rather than a quick shower in the morning?
The DD amount tells us nothing: what you need to look at is the actual increase in cu m usage over a year.

wild666

If you are paying too much based on their estimated readings then they should repay the credit to your bank at the end of that years bill or they could adjust the bill so that some of the credit is used each month to the next years bill. I was credited back £77 in 2020 after my first year as they estimated my yearly usage would be about half of the bill that I paid, they reduced the monthly DD from £17 to £11 and this year it's reduced again to £9.