Help understanding water bill (moved into new property)

Wilkesy91

Hi I’m new to bills so please don’t jump down my neck. Me and my partner moved into our new house in November we set up a Yorkshire water account to pay the bill. Our first generate today for £120 odd pounds, that’s what the balance shows online. 

Now I panicked at first as I thought it might be that per month but is the online balance number just a balance until April that I can break down and pay let’s say £40 a month so it’s like a debt that I pay off monthly to get it down or is it a monthly payment base on the last 2 months we haven’t paid ? So set account up in November and first bill generated today online. 

We have a water meter fitted too.

cheers 

QrizB

The online number should be your account balance.

Do you have a Direct Debit set up with Yorkshire Water? Do they offer the choice of monthly payments or on-receipt-of-bill, and (if they do) which option did you choose?

Brie

If your bills are similar to ours (south coast so not Yorkshire!) they will show how much you have used between 2 dates.  So they should show the date you moved in or were otherwise responsible for the water (check they get this right) until a very recent date. 

So say you owned the house as of the 15 November but didn't move in until the 20th.  The first date should be the 15th as that's when you were responsible for the bills.  (same should apply for gas, electric, tax).  The second day should be something recent when the bill was generated so maybe last Friday so 16th Jan.  There will be some bit about during this time you used X amount of water and you pay Z amount per unit therefore your bill is £120.  So that would make it about £60 a month. 

Check if that is the only water bill you will get.  We get 2 different bills here, one for the water and another based on that use for waste/sewage.

It's good you are on a meter, it generally means you pay less than unmetered.  And do set up a DD so that you don't have to think about paying.  Our bills are only once every 6 months (which I hate because you don't know if there's been a leak for a long time - not that that happens to many people really) but it's good to pace out the amount and so if there's an increase it's not a huge shock.  Check your meter occasionally as well if you can - just to make sure it near enough matches the bills.  This is sensible for any smart meter you have.