Water bill rise - no meter

larry45

My water bill has risen from £480 (2023) to £821 (2024). The rationale provided by the water company SES Water is that I do not have a water meter and therefore effectively refused one. The only time they tried to contact us to install one was while I was away from home, and I never tried to reschedule. For the record I have not actually refused a water meter. However, I do feel that I have been held to ransom and I will be forced to have a water meter with the aggressive rise in the water bill. Can a utility company enforce a 75% rise from one year to the next?

MattMattMattUK

larry45 said:

My water bill has risen from £480 (2023) to £821 (2024). The rationale provided by the water company SES Water is that I do not have a water meter and therefore effectively refused one. The only time they tried to contact us to install one was while I was away from home, and I never tried to reschedule. For the record I have not actually refused a water meter. However, I do feel that I have been held to ransom and I will be forced to have a water meter with the aggressive rise in the water bill. Can a utility company enforce a 75% rise from one year to the next?

Yes. The rises are signed off by Ofwat ahead of implementation. 

Kim_13

If they are charging based on the refused access charge (which is higher to prevent people who know that they will pay more on the metered system doing this in areas of water stress), then this should only be happening if they instructed you to contact them to reschedule, explaining what would happen if you did not. 

If they did not do this, then contact them with any evidence you have that you were on holiday, request a new appointment and ask them to adjust the bill back to the standard RV rate until that time.

Regular increases are signed off by Ofwat, but I doubt they have approved a near 75% increase anywhere.