Southern Water 52% price increase for Waste Water only?

Belenus

This is more of a rant or vent than anything else but I would welcome comments.

We live in a four bedroom house near Chichester in West Sussex. Portsmouth Water supply our water and Southern Water take away waste water.

We are not on a water meter. Portsmouth Water latest bill is a very reasonable £130 for July 2024 to June 2025.

Southern Water charged £353 last year for waste water only and have increased that by £182 to £535 for the year starting in April.

How can that be justified? They are serial offenders in dumping raw sewage into rivers and the sea.

Why are we paying so much more for waste water than for clean water supply? Is there nothing we can do about that?

We have always paid our bills on time. The latest bill dated 19th February is due to be paid by 1st April. We can split the bill into 2 payments, half now and half in six months as we have done in previous years.

Southern Water have today, 21st March sent me an email asking me to pay the whole lot today.

Please pay your water bill today

Hello you should have received your latest water bill, so we wanted to send you a reminder that it’s now time to pay. Please make a payment of £535.30 today.

They have also sent me a text message also asking me to pay today.

They can bloody whistle. I will pay half on 1st April and no earlier.

We were somewhat surprised to receive that bill with a 52% price increase but know that there is nothing much that we can do about it. We are fortunate that we are easily able to afford it but we wonder how less well off people will cope.

Rant over.

Thanks for reading.

GingerTim

Get a water meter and you will almost certainly save a good amount.

Belenus

We are not unhappy with our water bill (£130), it is the waste water charge (£535) that seems far too high.

How will having a water meter for the Portsmouth Water supply affect our bill from Southern Water for removing our waste water? Is our waste water charge linked to our water consumption? 

We did the sums a few years ago and having a water meter would probably cost much the same or more for our water supply so we decided to stay unmetered.

QrizB

Belenus said:

How will having a water meter for the Portsmouth Water supply affect our bill from Southern Water for removing our waste water? Is our waste water charge linked to our water consumption?

Yes. With a water meter your waste water charges are based on how much water you are supplied with.

matelodave

As said above, its one of those rare occasions where two companies communicate with each other. The water supplier send meter readings to the sewerage company so they can calculate the waste water charges.

We used to be with Essex and Suffolk water for the supply and Anglian Water for the waste. Waste was calculated at 90% of the supply volume. Sewerage costs are higher for both the standing charge and the volume

TBH I'd be pretty unhappy with a water bill of £130 (is that a month? as it seems unfeasibly low for a year)), in fact I'm a bit peeved that its going up to approx £500 a year (£42 month) for our combine water and sewerage

ScoobyZ

matelodave said:

As said above, its one of those rare occasions where two companies communicate with each other. The water supplier send meter readings to the sewerage company so they can calculate the waste water charges.

We used to be with Essex and Suffolk water for the supply and Anglian Water for the waste. Waste was calculated at 90% of the supply volume. Sewerage costs are higher for both the standing charge and the volume

TBH I'd be pretty unhappy with a water bill of £130 (is that a month? as it seems unfeasibly low for a year)), in fact I'm a bit peeved that its going up to approx £500 a year (£42 month) for our combine water and sewerage

According to my maths. £130 for water and £535 is £665. Which is more than £500.

Im currently paying £121 for Portsmouth water and have just had a bill for £564.80 for Sewage from Southern Water. So works out £685.80 but am guessing Portsmouth Water will go up in June.

Mark10

I'm angry also, but don't assume that a meter will fix things.  Though generally I am in favour of everyone having one.

I live in mid-Sussex, water supplied by South East, and sewerage by Southern.  The cubic metre prices increased thus:
- South East - 22%
- Southern - 54%  (246.10p to 379.40p)

I'm still completely staggered that a 54% price hike has been imposed on me, by a government-appointed monopoly.  

There are four of us in our house, and apparently our usage is low for a household of this size:  approx 100 cubic metres per year.  This now translates to approx £700-750 pa.