Water has gone up from £25 to £154 a month due to estimated readings

mellymoo141

we have just had our latest water bill and its gone from £25 to £154 

So they are saying we went from 2021 to 29th October 2024 with estimated readings. we have a water meter. why didn't they read the meter in those years ? and why has it never been suggested we ever have to increase our payments. i know we should have noticed the bills were estimated but we didn't. but now the meter has been read its jumped up massively. does Thames water not have to take some reasonability for not reading the meter for so long ? this has come as a bit of a shocker. we have called them and the guy was nice and offered a payment plan as my husband it on a state pension. I'm just shocked they don't take any responsibility for not reading the meter ??  

MattMattMattUK

mellymoo141 said:

we have just had our latest water bill and its gone from £25 to £154 

So they are saying we went from 2021 to 29th October 2024 with estimated readings. we have a water meter. why didn't they read the meter in those years ? and why has it never been suggested we ever have to increase our payments. i know we should have noticed the bills were estimated but we didn't. but now the meter has been read its jumped up massively. does Thames water not have to take some reasonability for not reading the meter for so long ? this has come as a bit of a shocker. we have called them and the guy was nice and offered a payment plan as my husband it on a state pension. I'm just shocked they don't take any responsibility for not reading the meter ??  

When you say Thames Water are not taking responsibility, do you mean you you think that you should not have to pay the bill?

The legal position is that you have to pay the water bill, remember that a payment plan may be logged on your credit report as late payment, depending on how it is structured. 

MikeyPGT

I'm with Welsh Water, when they send a bill they ask for a reading to make sure that it is right.  I would have thought all companies would do the same?  Not seen a meter reader since it was installed.

ButterCheese

I had the same gripe with ours (south west water).  We moved in, they asked us how big our family was, we said 2 adults and 2 kids, so we were on £54/month.  After the first year had expired, they said we were using more than they estimated, so put us up to £94/month.  I asked what measurements they had taken to come to this conclusion, what amounts we had actually used etc.  But they couldn't even give us a figure.  And I've never seen or heard evidence that they have read our meter which is right outside our house.

Don't try and understand it, I think they make it up as they go along until challenged

MikeyPGT

ButterCheese said:

I had the same gripe with ours (south west water).  We moved in, they asked us how big our family was, we said 2 adults and 2 kids, so we were on £54/month.  After the first year had expired, they said we were using more than they estimated, so put us up to £94/month.  I asked what measurements they had taken to come to this conclusion, what amounts we had actually used etc.  But they couldn't even give us a figure.  And I've never seen or heard evidence that they have read our meter which is right outside our house.

Don't try and understand it, I think they make it up as they go along until challenged

Your bill should itemise how much they charge for each unit of water along with the service charges for water and sewerage.  If you take a meter reading on a regular basis it is possible to work out what your bill should be.

Ayr_Rage

mellymoo141 said:

we have just had our latest water bill and its gone from £25 to £154 

So they are saying we went from 2021 to 29th October 2024 with estimated readings. we have a water meter. why didn't they read the meter in those years ? and why has it never been suggested we ever have to increase our payments. i know we should have noticed the bills were estimated but we didn't. but now the meter has been read its jumped up massively. does Thames water not have to take some reasonability for not reading the meter for so long ? this has come as a bit of a shocker. we have called them and the guy was nice and offered a payment plan as my husband it on a state pension. I'm just shocked they don't take any responsibility for not reading the meter ??  

It's a joint responsibility, not reading your meter yourself for 3 years when the bills are obviously using estimated readings is pretty daft.

I hope you aren't doing the same with your other utilities.

mr_stripey

ButterCheese said:

I had the same gripe with ours (south west water).  We moved in, they asked us how big our family was, we said 2 adults and 2 kids, so we were on £54/month.  After the first year had expired, they said we were using more than they estimated, so put us up to £94/month.  I asked what measurements they had taken to come to this conclusion, what amounts we had actually used etc.  But they couldn't even give us a figure.  And I've never seen or heard evidence that they have read our meter which is right outside our house.

Don't try and understand it, I think they make it up as they go along until challenged

If only there were some sort of device that you could check yourself to see how much water is being used.....

born_again

MikeyPGT said:

I'm with Welsh Water, when they send a bill they ask for a reading to make sure that it is right.  I would have thought all companies would do the same?  Not seen a meter reader since it was installed.

Ours are read by someone just driving passed in a Van. Seems they can read with 100% accuracy via signal the van has equipment to read 👍

matelodave

mr_stripey said:

ButterCheese said:

I had the same gripe with ours (south west water).  We moved in, they asked us how big our family was, we said 2 adults and 2 kids, so we were on £54/month.  After the first year had expired, they said we were using more than they estimated, so put us up to £94/month.  I asked what measurements they had taken to come to this conclusion, what amounts we had actually used etc.  But they couldn't even give us a figure.  And I've never seen or heard evidence that they have read our meter which is right outside our house.

Don't try and understand it, I think they make it up as they go along until challenged

If only there were some sort of device that you could check yourself to see how much water is being used.....

there is, its called a water meter. When you get a water bill (or leccy or gas) and it says its estimated then you fo out and read the meter and then notify the supplier. TBH you should do it even if it doesn't suggest that its estimated.
As @Bu@ButterCheese say, if the meter is right outside their house then why did they not check the meter themselves.

If you dont monitor what is going on then you have no control. It really isn't all that difficult and can save a lot of grief in the future. 

mr_stripey

matelodave said:

mr_stripey said:

ButterCheese said:

I had the same gripe with ours (south west water).  We moved in, they asked us how big our family was, we said 2 adults and 2 kids, so we were on £54/month.  After the first year had expired, they said we were using more than they estimated, so put us up to £94/month.  I asked what measurements they had taken to come to this conclusion, what amounts we had actually used etc.  But they couldn't even give us a figure.  And I've never seen or heard evidence that they have read our meter which is right outside our house.

Don't try and understand it, I think they make it up as they go along until challenged

If only there were some sort of device that you could check yourself to see how much water is being used.....

there is, its called a water meter. When you get a water bill (or leccy or gas) and it says its estimated then you fo out and read the meter and then notify the supplier. TBH you should do it even if it doesn't suggest that its estimated.
As @Bu@ButterCheese say, if the meter is right outside their house then why did they not check the meter themselves.

If you dont monitor what is going on then you have no control. It really isn't all that difficult and can save a lot of grief in the future. 

yeah sorry that's the point I was making! Was being facetious, maybe it didn't come across.

I think we are making the same point, you somewhat more articulately! 

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - you aren’t alone - I discovered on Christmas Eve 2024 that our meter hadn’t been read for 18 months despite regular biannual meter reading prior to that.  

We found that we were £95 in the hole - which meant we had paid £5 too little each month of that 18 month span- and luckily we could pay that to get back in line.  And increase our monthly direct debit by £5 to ensure we are covering realistic usage.

We read the meter every month now -  and I can understand how easy it is to not realise the meter hasn’t been read.  I pour over each bill now to be certain all is as it should be.