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Water bill higher than usual

I live alone in a 1 bedroom flat above a shop with no garden or pets, my previous water bills have been as follows:

18th Jan 2023 - 12th Jul 2023 
12 cubic metres of water used
£24.83

13th Jul 2023 - 13th Jan 2024
20 cubic metres of water used
£34.04

Now my latest bill is as follows:

14th Jan 2024 - 9th Jul 2024
49 cubic metres of water used
£65.82

Sewerage bills also reflect the same amount of cubic metres used and my bills also have gone up as follows - £45.06, £49.75, £66.61, £124.61 < Latest

This is over double the amount that I have previously used, despite not changing anything in my routine. I don't own a kettle as I don't like hot drinks, so I'm not filling that up constantly, I do the washing up once a week, and use the washing machine twice a week. I also only have a shower twice a week (gas prices are high enough, I can't afford to have them daily)


I contacted my water company and argued that this doesn't seem right, so they put my account on hold and sent out an engineer to look at my metre outside (it's in the high street so didn't want to check myself) 4 months later.. literally last week, they tell me the engineer didn't detect a leak and that the bill is payable. Speaking to colleagues at work who live with someone else or kids said that they don't use what I have apparently used so agree something is wrong here.


Now, I'm not sure if this could be related but I've recently had issues in the past with my boiler where it's not holding pressure, it'll work for a few days, then stop working again, and when it does work, you can hear water trickling in the walls where the pipes must be. Would this be a likely cause for a leak? & the fact the boiler wasn't turned on showed no signs on the metre being used? (the lil red arrow thingy) 
I'm just confused how I could have used this amount of water.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

(ps, I have attached an image below so you can see the scale of the big jump in water)

Comments

  • If it helps, my water is with Bournemouth Water and sewerage is with Wessex Water
  • MikeJXE
    MikeJXE Posts: 3,807 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    If your boiler is loosing pressure that means you are loosing water

    Obviously you have a leak 
  • You can find helpful advice on your water company’s website about how to check for leaks. We are with Anglian Water and used their leak detection advice. https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/plumbing/checking-for-leaks/ If the boiler is discharging water it might not have been doing it when the technician was on site. Enlist a friend to help with the meter readings. Take a meter reading and leave the boiler on for an hour, don’t use any water and then take another meter reading. If the meter has moved then you have a leak. There is sometimes an indicator on the meter to tell if water is going through. 

    A heating engineer should be able to sort it out. We had a pressure release valve that had failed and was causing water to be lost from the system. 

    Once you have found the leak and fixed it you should be able to apply to your water company for a leakage allowance where they can refund the money from water you didn’t use. Just so you know sewage charges are just calculated from the water meter less a bit for drinking and evaporation etc. Sewage isn’t measured directly. 
  • I concur with @Green_hopeful

    That increase in usage is coming from a leak. When the engineer came out, they established there is no leak on their equipment. That is as far as their responsibility goes as a water company - it is up to you and your landlord to determine if there is a leak and to fix it etc. 
  • The engineers should have checked if the meter was running when no water was being used. That’s why I thought the boiler might not have running when they visited. 
  • Thanks for the replies. So today I had a contractor come out (conveniently one who helped build this flat) and the water meter he told is mine, is not the one that is linked to my account. So for the past 30 months, I've been paying someone elses bill. 
    He also told me that my neighbours haven't paid a water bill in over 2 years. 

    I'm getting in contact with my supplier now to seek further advise and a revised bill (highly doubt I'd be compensated for all the stress this has caused but we'll see what they say next)
  • The water company might give you a customer service payment but it isn’t usually much money. For future reference your bill should have a water meter number and that should match your meter but obviously if you were told the wrong meter then it would be wrong anyway. Water companies also have a description of where the water meter is on their records. For example in public footpath to the right of the pedestrian gate. 
  • My water meter is in the high street (I live in the town centre above a shop) and the water company told me mine is  "a strip of 3 meters together, and mine is the middle one" upon checking myself, the numbers didn't match. Telling them this then prompted them to "send out a engineer to put blue spray paint on my meter in case I checked the wrong one" not sure how I could get middle of three wrong but hey-ho. 
    But I'll be waiting on what the water company say next.
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