Thames Water bill - usually around 200, this half-yearly bill was 1660

fluffysquirrel

Woke up this morning to e-mail with latest Thames Water bill of 1660, usually bills around 200 for half-year.

Called them, said water meter is now 'smart' (apparently there wasn't any mast in the area so meter was dumb and they have been doing estimated readings for the past 6 years since we moved into the property in March 2019), and latest read has us now owing for 'past underpayments' since we moved in.

Since they haven't done any 'actual' readings til now (and our understanding is they are required to do actual readings at least every 2 years), can they back-charge us more than 2 years? We don't have 1660 to pay this bill all in one. Call-centre advised they could 'discount' 140 but even then this seems a bit much.

Hoping someone can advise!

GingerTim

They can backdate the bill, but they should be amenable to a payment plan given how long ago they are going back.

Bit more info at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/backdated-water-bills/, but might be worth calling Citizens' Advice, too.

fluffysquirrel

Just to provide an update - I just checked our 'smart meter usage' online - numbers are just crazy. Saying on 18th Feb between 08:00 and 09:00 am we used 1000105.909 litres of water! System seems to also be 'missing data' between 10:00 on 17th Feb and 08:00 am on 18th Feb as well.

Other numbers around those times before and after are more 'sensible'. 

Clearly Thames Water 'smart meter's' have issues. Am waiting on a callback from their 'escalation team'.

QrizB

fluffysquirrel said:

Just to provide an update - I just checked our 'smart meter usage' online - numbers are just crazy. Saying on 18th Feb between 08:00 and 09:00 am we used 1000105.909 litres of water! System seems to also be 'missing data' between 10:00 on 17th Feb and 08:00 am on 18th Feb as well.

Other numbers around those times before and after are more 'sensible'. 

Clearly Thames Water 'smart meter's' have issues. Am waiting on a callback from their 'escalation team'.

Do you know where your meter is? Can you read it manually?
Mine (for example) is under a cover in the pavement in front of my house. It's maybe 300mm down, underneath a polystyrene block that protects it from frost, and the hole has usually got water in it so I need to take screwdriver so I can prise the cover open and a sponge so I can bail it out before reading the meter. But once I've done that, reading it is relatively straightforward.

diving_deeper72

I live in a one bedroom flat with my wife. My annual Thames Water bill has now risen to £1560.38 which seems far too high. We have replaced the bath with a shower years ago, so use very little water. Unfortunately this is an old house and has no water manifold for the 6 flats. A Thames Water engineer attended last week and it will not be easy to install water metres. I have called Thames Water, via India, though they are not helpful in any way. Does anybody have any suggestion what else I could do?

freesha

diving_deeper72 said:

I live in a one bedroom flat with my wife. My annual Thames Water bill has now risen to £1560.38 which seems far too high. We have replaced the bath with a shower years ago, so use very little water. Unfortunately this is an old house and has no water manifold for the 6 flats. A Thames Water engineer attended last week and it will not be easy to install water metres. I have called Thames Water, via India, though they are not helpful in any way. Does anybody have any suggestion what else I could do?

They should offer you an assessed charge, if they cannot fit a meter.