Water bill higher than my neighbours

Nafta

Hi, I have recently received my water bill for next April and when talking to a neighbour they were surprised it is at least £20 higher than theirs and they are 4 in a 3 bedroom house where there is only two of us in a 3 bedroom house. When I contacted Thames water they said I should request a meter but I cannot have a meter installed as I am a council tenant. Can I then ask them to bill be as an assessed household? Because I did ask for this and they refused.

MattMattMattUK

Nafta said:

Hi, I have recently received my water bill for next April and when talking to a neighbour they were surprised it is at least £20 higher than theirs and they are 4 in a 3 bedroom house where there is only two of us in a 3 bedroom house. When I contacted Thames water they said I should request a meter but I cannot have a meter installed as I am a council tenant. Can I then ask them to bill be as an assessed household? Because I did ask for this and they refused.

An assessed charge is only where a water meter cannot be fitted due to physical constraints, not because of (landlord) unwillingness. That being said have you mentioned this to the council, customers are not allowed to refuse the fitting of a water meter so I would be surprised if the council blocked this, most are fitted in the pavement in the same hole that the stop c*ck is normally in. I would imagine the council would either not care, or would have no issue. 

Nafta

Okay, so I did ask and I was told no to water meter. However how is it possible that a same size house, in the street, more people living there have a water bill £20 or more cheaper than mine. they are also council tenants with no water meter. I do not think that is fair

MattMattMattUK

Nafta said:

Okay, so I did ask and I was told no to water meter. 

I would ask again, in writing, saying that Thames Water want to fit one and see if you get a different response, I cannot see any valid reason why the council would object.

Nafta said:

However how is it possible that a same size house, in the street, more people living there have a water bill £20 or more cheaper than mine. they are also council tenants with no water meter.

The unmetered charges are based on rateable value/notional value which can be arbitrary, the number of people living there is irrelevant.

Nafta said:

I do not think that is fair

Fairness does not come into it. 

toby3210

Is it metred? Or do they know how many people are living there? When I moved homes the water company explicity asked how many people were living there and based the pricing of that. Perhaps that could have something to do with it?

Jyana

Section 11 of the Water Industry Act 1999 states that a landlord cannot refuse to let you get a water meter installed, unless you have a fixed term tenancy of less than six months. Might be worth quoting that to them and see what they say? 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/9

strawb_shortcake

I'd always assumed my neighbours and I would all have the same water bill as the houses are pretty much identical, but one neighbour was complaining about her bill and its around twice what ours is - neither of us are on water meters