outrageous Bill

bloodevil

south staffs water are trying to charge me £775.83 with Balance brought forward of £165.00 CR with a remainder of £610.83 to pay for the time period from 19th March 24 2nd September 24

3 bed house, 2 adult 2 children one 9 one 2, 10 minutes showers 3-4 a week on average, about 7 loads of washing a week

is it just me or is this outrageous, our normal bills are £175 to £250 every 6 months for years upuntill now, now they said they will send out an engineer to see if there is an issue on the 1st Oct

Brie

What is the basis for the increase?  They must have given some explanation.  

Presumably you are metered?  And presumably the bills are actual readings and not estimates?  

The biggest reason if there is an actual increase in water being used is that there's a leak.  If it's before your property but after the meter then it's up to the water company to fix.  If it's on your property it's up to you to pay for them fixing it but you may be covered by your home insurance.  It's really a pain either way given that you are billed every 6 months and so a leak occurring just after a billing period won't be noticed for a few months and the amount goes up shockingly.  

If, however, it's because of having had estimated bills for a long time and you are now getting actual readings (ours kicked in 6 years after moving in to our current property) you can ask them to provide proof that they are not back billing you more than 12 months.  I have been told for our situation there will be no back billing.  

fatbelly

Are you metered?

Have you checked your meter to see if their readings tally with yours?

Have you done a leak test? Do a reading Turn all taps off for 12 hours if poss. Do another reading

bloodevil

sorry yeah im metered they had me to a leak test for 5 hours today, and the meter didn't move, also i forgot this little info so acording to them the recent meter reading done by them was 04000 on the 2nd sept 24, i looked at the meter last night and this morning it was 03999 so something is definitly amiss here.

so far they have said "its most likely what you have used" ohh and its 280 cubic metres of water for that period too

i just ran a test on the ccw.org.uk site to estimate my annual usage and thats saying average 92 per annual, how the hell is it mor then double that in 6 months

fatbelly

Someone left a tap running? Used a hosepipe or sprinkler? Filled up a fishpond? 

I can't see how your meter is now reading less than their reading 3 weeks ago, albeit just one unit.

But I think you are going to have to accept you are liable for this. Pay it off slowly if need be. Ask for a grant if in hardship - details on their website

bloodevil

nope no one leave the tap running someone is always watching our toddler as we are teaching potty training, no hosepipe, no pond

bloodevil

and they have also been estimating my bill for the last 13 months too

bazdvd

bloodevil said:

and they have also been estimating my bill for the last 13 months too

this is most likely why

MattMattMattUK

bloodevil said:

and they have also been estimating my bill for the last 13 months too

There is likely your answer. This is likely a catch up after a period of underestimating. Was the bill 13 months ago definitely a read rather than an estimate?

bloodevil

yes 100% a read 13 months ago, but if that is the case how come money Balance brought forward of £165.00 CR i would not have been in credit if they was underestimated

bazdvd

because the credit balance showed on your account before the correct bill was issued thus putting you in arrears