Rights to a water meter 23 September 2021 at 7:39PM in Water bills 5 replies 182 views

justincm

I am a local councillor working on behalf of residents of a mobile home park. 

Their water is metered at the boundary, the bill looks to be split equally amongst all the homes. Many of these are private, with the local district council the land owner, who pay to have Chorus Homes mange it for them. 

They have applied for water meters but have been refused permission. 

I need help to understand where they stand, what can we do to help facilitate the installation of water meters so these residents pay for what they use.

For example a single person living in one of these homes is paying £18 a week for water, with a kitchen sink, toilet and shower.

Thanks everyone for the help in advance. 

tacpot12

I think the first thing to check is who has refused permission, and will they tell you the reason why. If they won't tell you, they should tell one of the residents who has asked for a meter. 

The law allows the request for a water meter to be refused if it is not practical or is unreasonably expensive. You should try to understand the decision maker's point of view, and put any opposite points of view to them so see if you can change their mind. 

Secondly, the residents should consider complaining to the water company, and then to CCW. You can look at this link for further details of how to complain: How do I complain about my water and/or sewerage company? (custhelp.com) 

Cardew

The Consumer Council for Water are usually excellent and water companies take notice when they get involved.

Normally a telephone call is sufficient to get the ball rolling. However their website states that the are all working from home so it may be better to contact them in writing.

I suspect the issue will be that Chorus homes will have a business account which will not have the protections(and prices) offered to domestic customers.

jimjames

If it's a justincm said:

I am a local councillor working on behalf of residents of a mobile home park. 

Their water is metered at the boundary, the bill looks to be split equally amongst all the homes. 

I need help to understand where they stand, what can we do to help facilitate the installation of water meters so these residents pay for what they use.

I suspect what they will need to do if they want meters is to pay for the installation which may not be economic. The supplier responsibility is up to the point of the meter that already exists. What the site do beyond that isn't their issue and presumably not their pipework. Maybe when the site was being setup the developer didn't want to pay for the pipework and meters so just had one at the site boundary to save costs.

Cardew

Ofwat guide to Water resale.

https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/A-guide-to-water-resale-2020.pdf

'Can I have a water meter installed? 

You can ask your reseller to fit a meter but there is no legal requirement on them to do so. We cannot require your reseller to install a meter for you'.

Then there is the question of sewerage charges!

Even if meters are fitted, the adminisration of charges, especially if there are many caravans, will be time consuming.

reefer37

It will be due to the ownership of the site. as stated above the water company is only responsible for the water to the boundary and this is where the bulk meter is fitted.

the pipe work might not be able to fit individual meters on all carvans. who is on the main account. landlord/council/residents.
also if indiviual meters are fitted the water company need to read all meters at same time to prove if leaks between sub meters and main meters as owners will still be respoinsible for leaks between main meter and sub meter. who would pay this bill if this was the case. although these caravan may be private someone still owns the land/site.

the owners of the site could fit meters and work out the bill privately but this would be down to them and not the water company.

how is the electric on the site worked out as i dont know if they would have there own electric meters on each van.