South East Water "make it up" tariffs and billing

dfarry

Hi, sorry this is a bit long to explain, but I'd welcome any comments or advice please.

I moved into my home in 2009 from the much cheaper (at the time) Thames Water area.

At the time we paid our bills to South East Water and Southern for water supply and waste water.

Shortly after moving in and being shocked by the doubling of our water rates I called South East Water and they advised that I was being charged a rateable unmetered tariff and recommended a water meter based on the size of our family and likely usage.  They promised that we could go back to unmetered if we felt the water meter wasn't suitable for us.

We tried the meter for about a year and then decided to return back to the unmetered tariff.

Jump forward to 2024 and our supply and waste is now provided by South East Water.  The cost of this using the rateable unmetered tariff is £914.73.  So a few weeks ago I decided enough was enough and I called them.

They then advised that they have an "accessed" unmetered tariff based on the number of bedrooms and they changed me to that.  They said this would reduce the bill to about £600.  They felt a meter would cost about the same for us as we are in Zone 4, so that equals to £2.18 per cubic metre when metered.  But the first point is that I had never been advised of there being an accessed unmetered tariff, I thought you could only have a rateable value tariff of a metered tariff.  So it seems we may have over paid our bills by around £2000-3000 I estimate.

Following this we received various bills, some in credit, some not, they completely messed it up.  So I called them again and asked them to get it right and to also refund us the over payment.

Yesterday they called back and said the following.

1. No refund, as we went back on the rateable value tariff and that's what we were charged.
2.  Although we went onto the rateable tariff after having a water meter, the meter was never actually removed (it just wasn't used for readings).  Presumably the meter has continued to run in the meantime so they may be able to see how much water we have used in 14 years?
3.  Because the water meter is fitted the tariff options are now limited to rateable value or metered and they WILL NOT let us go onto an "accessed" bedroom based unmetered tariff.

I do think we would save money going back on a meter but when we original agreed to have a meter fitted we were not told this might limit our tariff choices in the future.  Nor has an accessed unmetered tariff ever been, mentioned, suggested or advised for us.  They just been quite happy letting us over pay for 14 years.

Suffice to say I'm pretty unhappy about this and apparently a manager will look at the issue and come back to me next week.  I said.... OK remove the water meter and then put me on the accessed unmetered tariff, to which I got the response "I don't think we'll do that".

I don't think I have much leverage with South East water to ever get a refund or the tariff I thought I was able to go onto a few weeks ago, but you never know.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any help, thanks.

apw81

My understanding is assessed tariffs are only offered by water companies as an alternative to a meter when fitting a meter isn’t possible. They’re a bit like a ‘best guess’ at how much a user might be paying if they could have a meter, but can’t.

They’re a compromise for low users who are disadvantaged by the flat rate, but cannot have a meter even if they ask for one, eg. somebody living alone in a basement flat. They’re not a tariff you’re free to choose for yourself. Since you do have a meter installed, you’re not in need of being on an assessed tariff and would not be eligible for one. So, in that respect, you haven’t been diddled, and you’re paying correctly, as you’ve chosen to go unmetered. Historically, you haven’t been overcharged, either (though the flat rate they’re charging is pretty steep, I’d be switching back to metered, pronto). 

How customer services have handled you is a bit of a mess, however. Sounds like the person who brought up the assessed tariff may not have realised there was a meter installed. Then, having done some homework, they’ve realised the actual situation and put your account back in order. I don’t see there’s a refund due, though an apology should be coming for the misunderstanding they’ve caused.

Hope it gets resolved. If not, you should follow their official complaints procedure. Couple of useful links:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/paying-your-water-bill/paying-for-water-without-a-meter/#:~:text=Assessed%20Volume%20Charge%20is%20usually,fit%20one%20at%20your%20property.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/complaints-about-your-water-supply/complaining-about-your-water-company/

dfarry

Thanks for you detailed and constructive response.  As things stand, they are currently looking into this for me.  Every few days we seem to get a new, different, presumably automated bill, so something must be happening behind the scenes.