Severn Trent installed Water Meter without home owners consent

JALDRIDGE

Yesterday Network Plus working on behalf of STW arrived at the front of my house and installed a meter in the water boards stop tap on the pavement. I received no notification of this work when I spoke to the guys doing the work they explained that all houses in the street would be fitted with this meter and supplied me with a card with the details. However, they just fitted mine and left, I understand I cannot refuse the installation as its not on my property and that my billing will not change (at this time) but it seems a bit sneaky just turning up and doing the work had my wife not spotted them I would be none the wiser! The card they left stated Quote: We visited today. We wrote to you recently to let you know we’re working in the area. We can confirm that we’ve completed the work to install a new water meter outside your house. This will help us to identify and reduce water leaks, and help keep bills low.
Don’t worry - there’ll be no charge to your account or the way you’ll be billed. For more details please see the letter we sent you previously or visit stater.co.uk/new-meters Unquote
Just wanted to make people aware!

Cardew

Why would you have 'been none the wiser' when they left a note explaining they had fitted a meter and the reason for taking that action?

On change of occupant STW will(should!) charge metered rates; and it is possible in the future that all properties will have no choice but to have mandatory metered rates.

Also the meter will give you the opportunity to monitor your consumption to see if switching to metered rates yourself woulf be advantageous.

GingerTim

The sooner everyone has a water meter, the better.

EnPointe

it  really is quite remarkable how people seem to be  obsessing  aobut the fact   that the water company   installs a meter when undertaking routine  works  such as  replacing old stop valves or  removing lead  feeds to a property  ,  but importantly  does not  change the  billing method for an existing   household   paying   a rateable value based charge... 

I wonder how many of these  households   getting all  flustered and flushed  (boom boom) aobut it are one and 2 person households  for whom a water meter might  represent a significant  saving opprtunity 

PensionStress

I must be the unluckiest Severn Trent customer in the whole of their area! I’ve had two meter’s replaced in under five years, the last one less than 7 months ago and today, 04/01/2025 I’ve just had a post card from Network Plus saying that they have, quote, ‘spotted something and need to work on my meter’ They haven’t been specific about what they found or what they need to do because obviously they don’t want to frighten me but if my previous experiences are anything to go by my bill will, yet again, go up after their visit. I suppose it’s just bad luck that I live in a local where only my meter ever needs work done to it despite there being 66 other houses that were built at exactly the same time, yet their meters have never been replaced? Or is it that I use hardly any water, despite living in a large five bedroom house, because I now live alone and therefore don’t fit the algorithm Severn Trent use to calculate what they think I should be using in a five bedroom house! Odd that my monthly charge went down from £18+ when the first new meter was installed to £7.26 and up to £17.76 when the second meter was installed, yet I used half the amount of water, my current charge sits at £21.24 a month and yet my next door neighbour used 50meters of water in six months at a cost of £224+whilst I used just 13meters at a cost of £138+ No, it must just be a coincidence, nothing more, I’m sure that another meter will bring me in line with the correct price for a five bedroom house just like my neighbours. Water companies wouldn’t do anything wrong, like fix a meter in their favour, would they?