Southern Water lack of response

CynicAlly

I have been advised by Southern Water that my water bill is increasing from £39 per month to £73 per month from the 16th February. I am the sole occupier of my home and the increase is exorbitant so I wrote to the Chief Executive and received a reply from his Office to say that my Dispute had been referred to the Executive Review Team and I would hear from a named person within ten days. The ten days is up tomorrow 15th February. I emailed them yesterday as I have heard nothing and on checking my bank this morning my direct debit amount, to be paid on Monday has been raised to £73. I have still had no response.

Any idea what I can do - I provided two new readings in my letter to their Chief Executive.

On-the-coast

Too late for Monday.
but if I recall correctly, at some point last year southern water wanted to double my DD. They changed the DD amount. I just went into my SW online account and changed it back.
I knew what I was doing… my account was several hundred in credit due to 2 extended water outages. Towards the end of this year I will allow them to increase it - although I’ll check carefully that I agree with their figures.

QrizB

I am the sole occupier of my home and the increase is exorbitant

That statement is an opinion, and is irrelevant.

Is your bill accurate, or not?

If it's accurate, pay it. If it's inaccurate, contact Customer Services and have it corrected.

I wrote to the Chief Executive

Why would you do a thing like that? Ifnyour bill is wrong it's Customer Services that can correct it, not the Chief Executive. Writing to the Chief Executive will only prolong your quest for an accurate bill.

MattMattMattUK

You could calculate your costs based on your usage if you are on a meter, check you have not been historically underpaying, check for leaks or if you are on rates you could move to a meter. Short of that everything else is wasting your and everyone else's time.

CynicAlly

GrizB Before I wrote to the Chief Executive I spent 30 minutes waiting in a queue to speak to a Customer Service person. She then just blamed the planned increase in Southern Water's bills but was unable to explain why it was so high. Total phone time was about 50 minutes with no proper answer. My meter is read every six month and I also check to make sure I agree the readings. I in my letter I told them that although they showed their January reading I was not sure that they had calculated the bill correctly. Basically having phoned and written, two weeks later I am no further forward.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884242#Comment_81884242

If your meter is being read then you have consumption figures, you can calculate your estimated costs very easily. You can also work out if you have been historically been underpaying and if your usage has spiked based on the most recent bill then you probably have a leak.

IOWJJBTM2025

I am with Southern water and just receive a bill every six months which I pay. SW have asked if I want to pay by direct debit but there is no discount for this. Why pay them a few months earlier than I need to.

If you look at your previous bills and you can work out how much water you use per year. Southern Water charges have increased massively over the last couple of years and understand that are to go up again at the end of this month.

My Southern water latest rates are £2.753 per cubic meter for water supply and £3.794 per cubic meter of waste.

If I use 1 cubic meter of water Southern Water assumes that 92.5% of this will be waste water.

To simplify one cubic meter of water costs (Water 1x£2.753) + (Waste 1x 92.5% x £3.794) = £6.43.

Then we need to add the standing charges - Water is £38.26 per year and Wastewater is £105.34 per year.

Total Standing charges are £143.60 per year.

Take your average usage in cubic meters and multiply by £6.43

Using the above if you use 50 cubic meters per year you would need to pay

50 x £6.43 = £321.50 plus 1 years standing charge £143.60 = £465.10 per year or £39 per month.

Paying £73 per month calculates to be 114 cubic meters of water per year. For a single occupier is in my opinion too much.

We are a family of 4 and we only use only 100 cubic meters per year.

The average single household uses 142 litres per day which is 52 cubic meters per year.

Either Southern water have billing problems, water meter reading errors or there is a water leak.

Out of interest - How much water do you use a year.

Southern Water are set to increase by 8% at the end of the month. If you use 50 cubic meters per year you will need to save £40 + 8% = £43 per month for next year.

Suggest you just put enough money into a savings account of your own every month and pay the bill when it arrives. You may even earn a few pennies interest extra on your savings.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884242#Comment_81884242

Did you just say that you were "not sure they calculated the bill correctly" or did you provide your own calculation to show the error?

Do you have any prior underpayment to catch up?

CynicAlly

IOWJJBTM2025 'Thank you so much for your help. I've got my SW file out and am going to work it out based on what you have told me. I am unsure whether they have calculated the bill correctly as they took a reading on the 17th December 2025 and showed a £146 credit balance on the 12th January 2026, but looking at the period of the latest account shown on line it states the billing period is from 25 th December 2024 to 22nd May 2025! which is probably why they are estimating that I use 232 litres a day. I've just tried to access the account but it is now down for essential maintenance until 4.30pm today, so I guess they have now started to sort it out. I will be able to work it out myself now thanks to the information you have given me, so thank you again for helping, I'm really grateful.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884540#Comment_81884540

No problem and please just shout if you need any help. We are all here to help. I totally agree that Southern Water Billing is confusing and not easy to follow. In April last year they implemented an increase of over 50% on water charges and this April they are adding another 8%. This increase is more than any other water company. If I could use a different water supplier I would, but the fact is we cannot unless we move our house on the back of a lorry to another region.

An average of 232 litres per day is 84.7 cubic meters per year which is higher than expected for a single occupancy property. If you are happy with this and believe it to be true then no worries. Who knows you may have a pressure washer and clean your car regularly, water the garden daily, have baths daily or even have a swimming pool in your basement🤣

It may be worth while when you are not using any water for a few hours - take a photo of your water meter before and after. Comparing the photos you will be able to see if there is a slight leak somewhere.

It looks like they have really messed up your billing. I am really not surprised as I have had a few arguments with Southern Water myself and the billing format is not easy to follow.

Don't forget that if they are going back over a year ago the rates changed on 1st April 2025. Any usage before this will be at the older rates. Up to April 2025 Use £4.23 per cubic meter instead of £6.43. For Standing charges use £89.97 per year instead of £143.60 per year. Do not let them charge you this years rates for last year. In their billing there should be somewhere an estimated meter reading they used when the rates changed.

My online account is locked too - We want to let you know that your online account will be unavailable on Saturday 14 February between 12:45pm and 4:15pm , while we carry out some essential maintenance. We’re really sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding.

Maybe the Chief Exec has got someone correcting your account 😉

CynicAlly

IOWJJBTM2025

My account is available again and unchanged, so I didn't shut everyone down after all! I will definitely do as you suggest and take photo's of the meter while not using any water, hopefully it is not a leak. SW caused problems about two years ago when they read the meter and then swopped the last two units. When I queried why my monthly payments had gone down to under £8 they couldn't see anything wrong until they checked a photo of the meter taken by the meter reader. I would love a swimming pool but I don't think I could take the anxiety it would cause every time a reading was taken.☺️ Thanks again.