Welsh Water - leak would have been identified sooner if notified of increased direct debit

K8EVANS

Hi,
I recently tidying up my bank account when I noticed that my direct debit for Welsh Water had increased from May 2024 from £66.50 per month to £115.50 per month.
I contacted Welsh Water to ask why and they said it looked like I may have a leak and duly sent me a video to establish whether it was internal or external to the house.
it turned out to be internal and by a process of elimination I found it to be my toilet valve continuously running. I duly called the plumber and got it fixed the following week.
Anyway, the only reason I found this was because I was clearing out my bank account. I thought that under the direct debit guarantee if there was a significant difference in my monthly direct debit I would be notified within 10 days of the change?
I queried this with Welsh Water as I had not received an email notification of the massive increase and if I had I would have done something about it there and then, wasting less water and less money.
they responded telling me that my email telling that my latest bill was available online was the direct debit notification.
Is that really an acceptable substitute for telling me they’re nearly doubling the amount they take off me every month - and no I don’t generally check the full details of my water bill 😞

Hoenir

K8EVANS said:

and no I don’t generally check the full details of my water bill 😞

That's your choice. Any consequences are down to you. 

Running toilet cisterns are generally noisy or visible. 

TadleyBaggie

Why would you think the water company would notice an increase in your water usage? Water usage varies massively, they have no way to know it was due to a leak or toilet valve issue.

born_again

Do you not check the bank account either? Should be something to do at least weekly.

Sadly failing to check anything leaves you in such situations & any DD Guarantee claim would be rejected on the basis they have informed you, in your account user area. Which I guess you have gone paperless on the billing side?

PrincessMellie

Your notification would have been your bill - they would have generated you a bill in May which would have advised your consumption, your past payments, any balance you were carrying, and what the new Direct Debit would have been. From the perspective of the company, you had a large increase in usage, you got the bill, and didn't object to the payments - the mandate for the Direct Debit was fulfilled and they did their job. It's always a good idea to monitor your DDs for this reason. If you have paperless bills, get them changed to paper bills ASAP.