Water bills and debt owed to Thames Water

wiggy12345

Just wondering if anybody can help
There are 5 of us in our house and we've been paying £56 a month - i have just had an email to say that our bills are increasing to £220 a month.
Some of that is due to the increase in water prices - our ongoing liability appears to be £100 ish a month and we'll either have to reduce our water consumption or stomach that
my issue is that we apparently have a debt of £500 which they want paying over 5 months. I have been having a discussion with thames water over the phone and have asked them to reclaim that debt over a longer period of time
the adviser has suggested that this isn't possible unless i give information about our outgoings and incomings (we won't qualify for any discount as my husband earns too much)
Just wondering what my rights are - the debt will have accrued because thames water were using estimated readings. Do i have any say in how quick they seek us to repay the £500 owed? 

Exodi

If there are 5 people in the house, I'd say that £56 a month (assuming that includes drainage) is extraordinarily low - most people spend that between 2 adults. £100 a month seems much more realistic.

I think you're thinking about it the wrong way round.

If they had the correct readings, you would have already paid for the additional water you've consumed.

It's not a courtesy for you to pay for your usage and there hasn't been any mistake or error by them (except I guess for not having a crystal ball to perfectly forecast your future usage). Similar scenarios happen with energy companies. Many (particularly on this forum) track their usage and/or submit meter readings where they suspect estimated usage is too low (or their consumption has increased) to prevent the impact of a large correction.

If you're pleading poverty and special treatment, I think it is quite reasonable that they ask for some form of evidence for that. From what you've said, am I right in perhaps thinking that it's not that you can't pay it in 5 months, it's that you don't want to?

(Appreciate some people may read Thames Water and instinctively see red).

wiggy12345

Exodi - thank for the comment and the different perspective

i just wondered whether i had an argument about spreading the amount owed over a longer period of time so that it doesnt feel so painful. 

perhaps its a lesson learnt and that i should be taking water meter readings - just feeling penalised in having to make large monthly payments (which we can pay but will have an impact on expenditure for other non essentials). If we'd overpaid i can guarantee that thames water wouldn't be rushing to give it back to us.
i'm waiting for a manager to pay me back and i'll see if i can get any joy. otherwise will have to endure the pain!

wiggy12345

in last message that should say 'manager to call me back..' 'pay me back' is wishful thinking!

QrizB

wiggy12345 said:

If we'd overpaid i can guarantee that thames water wouldn't be rushing to give it back to us.

If you'd overpaid by a similar amount, they'd have put you on a payment holiday. They did that for me, without me asking, earlier this year.

In my case I'd not overpaid by much so the holiday only lasted one month!

Brie

I was extraordinarily lucky in that the water company here was estimating readings (I have no access to the meter) and then discovered that it had stopped working 2 years earlier so they had no way of knowing how much we had used.  2 years for free then and no payments for quite some time!!  

But on to you......can you read your own meter?  If so I'd recommend checking it occasionally same as you might the electric or gas even if they are smart meters.  It's just a sanity check really so that you don't get caught out.

How long have they been under estimating?  How are they going to know they have got the right readings going forward?  If the underestimating has been going on for 1 or 2 years then it's fair to be given a similar period to catch up with the money owed as it's not a problem of your making from what you've said so far.   Do you know how much you would be comfortable paying?  An extra £20 a month?  An extra £50?  Once you have decided that talk to Thames and TELL them what you will be paying.  Yes they will want an income and expenditure sheet submitted but if you present them with something reasonable they should be fine.  If there is any issues from them tell them (again, don't ask, tell) you will set up a standing order to ensure that payments are made monthly and you will be happy to review the situation again in 6 months.  

So net result is a SO for £100+£youramount.  This may be £120 or £150 a month based on the possible extra amounts above.  The extra £20 will mean 2 years to catch up while an extra £50 will take just 10 months.  They are obviously going to be happier with £50 extra.  

And yes it's a standard thing for companies to ask for a income/expenditure statement where people are in debt.  The more serious the debt the more likely one is going to be required.  But the good thing is that the water companies are not allowed to cut off your water unlike providers of mobile signal, broadband, etc

Exodi

wiggy12345 said:

perhaps its a lesson learnt and that i should be taking water meter readings - just feeling penalised in having to make large monthly payments (which we can pay but will have an impact on expenditure for other non essentials). If we'd overpaid i can guarantee that thames water wouldn't be rushing to give it back to us.

Again, if you had been taking water meter readings, you'd have been paying £100 per month from about a year ago.

I'm still not clear on why you feel penalised, you've had the benefit of an extra ~£50 per month in your pocket instead of theirs? Objectively this has been a better outcome for you than the latter (unless you spend exactly what you earn and have no savings, which it doesn't sound like is the case).

Imagine you had a spare car and your friend asked to borrow it drive to work for a week while theirs gets repaired. You agree to help this friend out and proclaim that as their drive to work is 10 miles each way, and they only work on weekdays, you estimate that they will drive 100 miles in the week, which you'd like £15 for in respect of the fuel used, which they obligingly give you. You note the odometer conveniently reads exactly 10,000 miles.

A week goes by and they return the car to you and you notice the odometer is reading 10,200 miles - they have obviously driven more than expected. You point this out and ask them to pay you the extra £15 for the additional fuel they've used.

They kick off, telling you that they feel like they're being penalised, and it's not their fault that you didn't know that they'd driven more than you estimated. Sure they could have mentioned their increased driving to you, or told you the odometer during the week, but they didn't and now you've noticed they feel like they're being punished.