Severn Trent no more split bill

Downthedrain

We're on an unmetered supply and have for as long as I can remember been able to split the bill and pay in two instalments. This year the entire amount is due in April, which comes as a shock, given the significant price increase.

In the 25/26 charging document it reads "We normally send unmetered bills in February/March each year with two payments due on 1 April and 1 October."

Why is this no longer applicable?

Robin9

From the ST web site . I looks like 2  payments is no longer an option but 8 or 12 are. Ring them

Have you looked into having a meter - it may well save you money. Again ring them. My metered supply is under half of my neighbour's Rateable Value one

Unmetered

If you don't have a water meter at your home and are billed according to the rateable value of your property, you'll receive you annual bill between February and March.

We can spread the cost of your bill over 8 to 12 months.

Downthedrain

I tried ringing them but it's like ringing HMRC so I gave up. WhatsApp is ridiculous and childish - it's as though a 12 year old has written the chatbot replies ("Awesome" and emojis) and they're annoyingly using this to push Homeserve as a priority.

Metering is something I've considered, but my meter was fitted 570 metres from our property and Severn Trent will not adopt the pipework and says any leak would be chargeable. A neighbour in a similar situation had a bill for several thousand pounds for a leak he wasn't aware of until he got the bill. We cannot get insurance for pipework that isn't on our property, so it comes down to a balance of risk. A friend is in a similar situation - his supply runs under a school playground and his meter is the other side and there's a small leak. To replace the damaged supply is around £25,000, payable by him. The only realistic choice is the leave it leaking and keep paying for an unmetered supply. 

This isn't a good position to be in and many property owners are in a similar situation.

Robin9

Have you got an online account?  

Downthedrain

I haven't - should I set one up?

I've just taken a meter reading. The meter was installed on 3rd December 2021. I took two readings afterwards which averaged 1538 litres/week. It now reads 0260.88 (at installation it was zero) - so almost 261,000 litres. Based on my original calculation 170 weeks ago, the household use would be 261,460 litres - remarkably close, which suggest no leaks. The gamble is if the pipework does leak in the future, it would be very expensive to repair and in water billing cost by the time I became aware of it and got it repaired. The pipework is 1" black Alkathene, supposedly lasting indefinitely, but which is now notorious for splitting due to embrittlement and ground shift.

Part of the pipework runs under a local authority playing field, so there's a further complication and delay in gaining access for repair. This is worrying should we get a Section 75 notice to repair a leak within 14 days, as it could take weeks or months to get permission and I don't know where I would stand regarding penalties etc.

Severn Trent told me that they would neither locate the supply nor carry out any repairs. They would not even fit a stop tap and meter unless I excavated the location myself, as they have no record of where the branch came of the main supply. I had to dig out a trench by hand and mark where the meter was to be fitted.

brook_heather

If you have a leak why do you think that ST won't notice - depending on how much is leaking they may have measuring devices further upstream that will trigger a leak investigation.  Having your own smart meter will allow you to quickly see that there is a leak but a bad leak will be detectable by ST.

Downthedrain

They didn't alert my neighbour when he had a serious leak and that's the basis for my concern. They also didn't investigate a leak that was reported by three households and ran across the road for a further six months. It turned out it was my supply, but on their side of the meter.

Where would the smart meter be installed, and how do I monitor it given the distance involved? I'm pretty keen on this as it would enable me to keep an eye out for any leaks.