No meter wild west

sack_em_all

I shall try to get this in a nut shell.

I live in a building consisting of only two bed flats. Built in the 1960's these flats are unable to have individual water meters retro fitted. This is according to Thames Water. For all intents and purposes these flats are identical and Thames water have decided (quite arbitrarily and purely for their agenda) to charge each flat a set amount each year. I have been told by TW that this cost has been created as an identical charge for all two bed flats.

My neighbours have each received differing amounts to each other and myself. TW told me that my neighbours' situations are different to mine hence differing bills. This is totally hypercritical to their set costings model we are forced to follow.

How TW can know my neighbours' situations is beyond me. I have asked TW to consider my situation, if this is a true statement by them, and have received nothing. Not a beep!

So, there are no personal situations taken into account.

Someone is telling untruths, misspeaking, etc

I totally believe TW have created their own costing model for flats and properties that cannot have meters retrofitted that absolutely suits their balance sheet to our detriment. As a non fitted meter property I /we have no recourse to dispute our bills and are at the mercy of TW and their shareholders. This is a total wild west scenario for us all.

A well publicized total mismanagement of TW has seen a more authoritarian attitude to bill creation and charging aimed at those who can't argue back.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

I live in a building consisting of only two bed flats. Built in the 1960's these flats are unable to have individual water meters retro fitted.

Are you in England?

There are three ways that residential properties in England can be billed for water:

1. Metered, where your charges are made up from a fixed daily charge plus a volumetric charge based on the amount of water you use.
2. Rateable value (RV), where you waterr bill is based on the amount that your property was expected to earn in annual rent when the RV was last assessed in the 1970s.
3. Assessed charge, where your water bill is based on the size of the property and the number of residents. This is generally only offered to households where a water meter cannot be fitted.

My neighbours have each received differing amounts to each other and myself. TW told me that my neighbours' situations are different to mine hence differing bills.

Look at your water bill. Is your bill based on RV or on an assessed charge?

Then look at your neighbours bills (assuming they will share them with you). Are theirs based on RV or an assessed charge?

It's possible, though unlikely, that these "identical flats" were assigned different RVs back in the 1970s. It's also possible that one or more of your neighbours have applied for an assessed charge, which will vary between households.

Without specific information on how your bill, and those of your neighbours, have been calculated (information which should be visible on your bill) we can't speculate further.