4,500% increase in Thames Water bill via Direct Debit

MeteredOut

Engli7 said:

Problem solved!

Here's what happened:

When TW told me there must be a leak, I called a plumber who said they would charge £800 + VAT to find it (not to fix it, mind). This gave me the impetus (with advice above) to search again for the meter. I found it in the pavement outside, about a foot down, under a hatch and a second plastic cover, which was why I didn't see it first time around. After lying in the dog pee for a bit I managed to make out the numbers on the dirt-caked dial. I found we have been using only about .5m/day since the last reading – almost exactly average usage for a family of five, and an eighth of the amount on our TW estimates.

So there is no leak.

Going back to the bills, I found that even though we have had a meter for a decade, Thames Water have been estimating our reading since 2021. At least two meter readings in the past five years that claim to be "actual" on the bills (as opposed to estimates) are clearly guesses. (I imagine this was because engineers told the company they had visited the property without doing so.) Going back five years, we seem to have used almost exactly the same .5 m/day all along, but TW produced huge underestimates from their flawed data (which made our bills £20/month) and then this huge overestimate. They based the DD charges of £905 a month, which we have been paying since June, on this last estimate. 

When I called TW back with this info they asked for a photo of the meter so they can recalculate the bill. I hope this will solve it, without having to pay £1k+ to a plumber etc. 

No apologies from them yet. The whole thing has wasted an afternoon. I will be complaining. 

Huge thank yous to everyone on here for your help. It has been really very useful. 

Well done it taking this head on and getting it resolved (hopefully). Frustrating that you have to do this because it looks like past meter readers could not find the meter like you did!

born_again

Meter in our house has never been read by coming in house (at least 10 years). Van just drives slowly down street & takes reading via whatever method they use.