Huge Thames water bill rises 2025/2026 50% + for some

gnat9gnats

We’ve been notified by TW that our unmetered water bill will rise by 37% next month. Looking back I can see it will have doubled since 2020. Asking friends locally on a meter what they are paying it seems to be typically £32-40 a month. Our bill (just for the 2 of us) will be £1350 a year.
Our RV is stated as 462, but having searched I can’t find out what that means to determine whether it’s right. 

Can I find out my actual usage ?

smallgreen

gnat9gnats said:

Can I find out my actual usage ?

TW have published their charging scheme for 2025-26 here [I can't post links yet, too new] Search for "Charges Scheme 2025-26 - Thames Water". All the unmetered info is in section 5 "unmetered charges" and detailed in the tables at the back.

What is your situation with water meters. Are you able to get the assessed rate?

gnat9gnats

I was already able to see the basis of their calculation with the fixed water and waste fixed charge which is multiplied by the RV rate. My RV rate is shown as 426 (I mistyped that as 462 on my previous post).

I’ve not been able to find out where 426 comes from, is it the theoretical rental value of our house back in 199x when the last rating was done? It’s that number which appears to be driving our bill so high. I suspected that an unmetered charge would be higher since our two children left home however it would appear to be 3-4x equivalent metered billing. Surely that can’t be right?

gnat9gnats

UPDATE

running the CCW calculator the estimate of our water consumption is 118 cu m at £474 annual cost - this is a 1/3rd of what we are paying so it seems switching to a meter is required!

I suspect our RV is way wrong to produce a bill so high but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m sure I found our actual water usage when I first started looking through the latest billing but haven’t been able to find it again / that would tell me the exact metered billing we will pay. 

Bottom line is even if it’s 2x the calculation it is still way cheaper. It’s extraordinary how much unmetered customers are paying 

smallgreen

gnat9gnats said:

running the CCW calculator the estimate of our water consumption is 118 cu m at £474 annual cost - this is a 1/3rd of what we are paying so it seems switching to a meter is required!

Yes, unmetered usage seem to be estimated very high and if you can move to a meter you will almost certainly save money I think. When I do the CCW calculation it spits out an estimated annual metered charge of £190. Thats 180% above my assessed rate bill.
Unfortunately, because TW have told me they cannot fit a water meter at my address, I am stuck paying the increasingly stacked assessed rate it seems.

smallgreen

gnat9gnats said:

I suspect our RV is way wrong to produce a bill so high but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m sure I found our actual water usage when I first started looking through the latest billing but haven’t been able to find it again / that would tell me the exact metered billing we will pay.

You are probably right about being stuck with your RV rate. 

From TW Charging Scheme;

"Rateable values were created by the Government, based on their assessment of how much properties could be let for. They considered factors like the size and condition of a house and the availability of local services.
5.1.3 We multiply the rateable value of your property by the rate per pound for water and wastewater. This is the amount, in pence, we charge for each pound of your property’s rateable value. There is one rate per pound for water and another for wastewater returned to our sewers. We divide this total by 365 to work out your charge per day and then multiply it by the number of days in your billing period.
5.1.4 The rates vary depending on the charging area your property is located in. The rates for each charging area are set out in the Charges Schedule. An area is determined by us and the charges that apply to each area reflect both the difference in the average use of water and/or wastewater services for various properties and the broad variations in rateable value for similar properties across our supply region. We set the water and wastewater rates to make sure that customers living in similar properties pay approximately the same amount for their water and wastewater services.
5.1.5 The Government froze rateable values in 1990, so we use values from the rating valuation list as at 31 March 1990."

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MattMattMattUK said:

Rateable customers tend to waste water, so I can see why they want to push people to metered usage. 

In 2023 it was reported Thames Water loses 600,000,000 litres of water a day through leaks in it's network. 

Something about stones and glass houses if Thames are worried about their customer wasting water! 

smallgreen

I_luv_cats said:

there's something  here;-

https / www thameswater co uk/media-library/home/help/billing-and-account/understand-your-bill/statement-of-significant-change-2025-26-charges-schemes.pdf

I'm curious about this bit;

For our Assessed Household Charge (“AHC”) customers, the unmeasured water fixed charge is being absorbed into our AHC banded water charges by increasing the underlying assessed volume of water  applicable. This improves the cost reflectivity of our AHC banded charges as our AHC customer base is more widespread (now including many terraced, semi-detached and detached houses) than the large blocks of flats
category that the assessed volumes have been historically based on.
8. This change is revenue-neutral and has no impact on total AHC water bills as the removal of the fixed charge is wholly offset by the increase to the AHC banded water charges.
9. This increase of around 12m3 per annum in the underlying assessed volume also impacts the AHC banded wastewater charges, likewise making them more cost reflective and representative of our AHC customer base. The impact of this change is an additional increase of around £16 to annual AHC wastewater bills.

I am trying to make sense of this. Does it mean that the "unmeasured water fixed charge" is being removed from somewhere and added to the AHC banded water charges? Where was the unmeasured water fixed charge originally placed.

It also says the impact is £16 to annual AHC wastewater bills. If I subtract the £16 from my waste water bill the increase is still 46%. 

It also doesn't say how much this increased underlying assessed volume of water is supposed to affect fresh water charges. With the £16 increase in waste water, the overall increase to AHC bill is still 44% higher than last year.

TroubledTarts

smallgreen said:

TroubledTarts said:

Those without meters to be honest you will have had cheap, endless water for many many years.

Well thats a lot of assumptions you just made. 

I've always been a let it mellow person from before meters were even a thing. I also requested the meter at my current place, because I'm pretty sure I use less than the assessed rate. Its a very new thing for me to not have a meter and I have not found the assessed rate to be a discount so far.

So I'm rather upset that I seem to be being penalised for something I have no control over. I'm also a little surprised at the rather divisive attitude here of meter users vs those that can't have meters. 

I was just looking for a little help understanding how Thames Water was able to rise my bill above the publicised rate cap. Thanks

I wonder if you can make a complaint to Ofwat detailing your situation and that may result in some compensation.

It's very difficult on a forum to think of every possible permutation of every individual and their household so yes generalisation rules with a few caveats.

smallgreen

TroubledTarts said:

I wonder if you can make a complaint to Ofwat detailing your situation and that may result in some compensation.

It's very difficult on a forum to think of every possible permutation of every individual and their household so yes generalisation rules with a few caveats.

Thanks @TroubledTarts I will concider a complaint over this. I cannot find any clear information for the layperson about exactly how the new assessed rates were arrived at. Nor what determination ofwat made about these.
p.s I understand about gereralisations, but they can be expressed politely while acknowleging the caveats. The way they were expressed earlier by the one user felt hostile and unnecessary to me. The conversation since this has been much more constructive. So thanks once again for your help getting to grips with this.