Fixed charge

roseview

Can anyone explain why the fixed rate is different for metered and unmetered supply? Surely the billing, maintenance etc that it's supposedly for is the same, regardless. In fact, unmetered should be cheaper as they don't have to bother to read a meter!

I get that meter users are then charged for useage and un metered are charged a rate based on rate-able value (presumably at a rate which is designed to be around the average useage cost).

Then there's the assessed charge - is that in addition to a fixed charge or not?

I'm also failing to understand why my bill shows a different amount for the fixed charge (unmetered) to the one shown on the company website for the 25/26 year, albeit it is the same to the one shown in the household charges scheme upload

MattMattMattUK

roseview said:

Can anyone explain why the fixed rate is different for metered and unmetered supply? Surely the billing, maintenance etc that it's supposedly for is the same, regardless. In fact, unmetered should be cheaper as they don't have to bother to read a meter!

Largely because they want people to move to metered supply. The balance Ofwat has set is to make unmetered more expensive.

roseview said:

I get that meter users are then charged for useage and un metered are charged a rate based on rate-able value (presumably at a rate which is designed to be around the average useage cost).

The unmetered rate is designed to account for the higher use unmetered users normally have, it is designed to be more expensive than the average metered supply.

roseview said:

Then there's the assessed charge - is that in addition to a fixed charge or not?

No, the assessed charge is for when a property is unable to have a meter fitted, so based on the usage is assessed based on the number of residents and aligns with the average cost for that number of people on a meter.

roseview said:

I'm also failing to understand why my bill shows a different amount for the fixed charge (unmetered) to the one shown on the company website for the 25/26 year, albeit it is the same to the one shown in the household charges scheme upload

Have you got the periods correct? Otherwise without knowing what your bill is showing and where on the website you are looking no one can help with that part.

roseview

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

MattMattMattUK

roseview said:

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

It is listed on the website, the water charge and the sewerage charges need to be added together. 
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-and-support/how-we-calculate-your-bill/

roseview said:

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

The fixed charge is only for unmetered, not assessed. The annual standing charges for for unmetered are £80.69 in 24/25 and £134.41 25/26 it is. The rest of your bill will be made up of cost per £ of rateable value, subject to the minimum cap. 

QrizB

roseview said:

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

Edit: ignore everything below, OP is being billed on rateable value.

Your household is unmetered, but you have an assessed charge (rather than being charged based on rateable value)?

Here's the current SWW website table:

I can't see a £229 entry on that table, can you be more specific re. what your bill says?

roseview

I'll try again. We are unmeasured, single service. Our bill shows fixed charge of £248.53 which matches the figure on the household charges doc but not that on the how we calculate bills section on the website which shows £229.57 as beng the fixed charge.

The household charges doc shows assessed charge for 2 of £311.34 but it isn't clear if that is in addition to the £248.53 or not. If so, then it's not much cheaper than the RV figure so not worth the hassle.

Interesting to see a chart showing assessed charge by bedrooms since that's not what the household charges doc shows.

QrizB

Ok, so you are being billed on rateable value, not on an assessed charge. That's where most of the confusion in this thread arises.

I would suggest that your bill is correct and the example on the website is wrong (it's doing the correct calculation but with an incorrect value).

The assessed charge, which you can ask for if you are unable to have a water meter fitted, is all-inclusive; you would not add the rateable value fixed charge to it.

roseview

MattMattMattUK said:

roseview said:

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

It is listed on the website, the water charge and the sewerage charges need to be added together. 
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-and-support/how-we-calculate-your-bill/

roseview said:

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

The fixed charge is only for unmetered, not assessed. The annual standing charges for for unmetered are £80.69 in 24/25 and £134.41 25/26 it is. The rest of your bill will be made up of cost per £ of rateable value, subject to the minimum cap. 

We are South West, not Southern

MattMattMattUK

roseview said:

MattMattMattUK said:

roseview said:

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

It is listed on the website, the water charge and the sewerage charges need to be added together. 
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-and-support/how-we-calculate-your-bill/

roseview said:

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

The fixed charge is only for unmetered, not assessed. The annual standing charges for for unmetered are £80.69 in 24/25 and £134.41 25/26 it is. The rest of your bill will be made up of cost per £ of rateable value, subject to the minimum cap. 

We are South West, not Southern

The cost for unmetered of £229.57 on the website is the water cost for dual supply customers (water and sewerage), you have said you have a single supply (water only) and the £248.53 fixed charge matches the fixed charge for a single supply.

roseview

MattMattMattUK said:

roseview said:

MattMattMattUK said:

roseview said:

I understand re the assessed charge and what it is. However, I want to know if there's also a fixed rate added to the assessed charge quoted.

It is listed on the website, the water charge and the sewerage charges need to be added together. 
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/help-and-support/how-we-calculate-your-bill/

roseview said:

On the SWW website it states that the fixed charge for 25/26 is £229 but on the uploaded household charges scheme (& on my bill) it's about £20 higher.

The fixed charge is only for unmetered, not assessed. The annual standing charges for for unmetered are £80.69 in 24/25 and £134.41 25/26 it is. The rest of your bill will be made up of cost per £ of rateable value, subject to the minimum cap. 

We are South West, not Southern

The cost for unmetered of £229.57 on the website is the water cost for dual supply customers (water and sewerage), you have said you have a single supply (water only) and the £248.53 fixed charge matches the fixed charge for a single supply.

Thanks for that, better fir they'd mentioneds that in their explanation of how the bill is calculated on the website.

roseview

QrizB said:

Ok, so you are being billed on rateable value, not on an assessed charge. That's where most of the confusion in this thread arises.

I would suggest that your bill is correct and the example on the website is wrong (it's doing the correct calculation but with an incorrect value).

The assessed charge, which you can ask for if you are unable to have a water meter fitted, is all-inclusive; you would not add the rateable value fixed charge to it.

I didn't say I was being billed on an assessed charge. I was only asking about that since I don't think they will be able to fit a meter at our location. I've tried phoning the meter line and input my customer number - each time it says they can't confirm it, and cut me off!!

Currently been sat in a queue since customer No 56 in order to ask questions. Having asked for an explanation as to why the Fixed charge varies so much between metered and unmetered, and why the bills are up over 40% the person I spoke to has gone to find out and I'm now 40 minutes into a wait!! I didn't think SWW used outsourced customer service but it certainly sounded as though they were from the conversation I had with the guy who answered.

I took there option of using the whatsapp option as supposedly faster and nobody has looked at my message so far from over an hour ago.