Two standing charges for one water and sewerage supply.

crypticcrossword

In April of this year we applied to have a water meter fitted. The engineer who arrived to fit it informed us that we had to choose between two meters fitted in the house or one meter fitted in the driveway, which would entail digging it up.
The reason for an additional meter (that he gave) was the pipe in our garage, which the previous owners had installed when they built an extension on the house, simply in order to make watering the front garden easier. I don't understand the plumbing setup behind the scenes, but the fitter was adamant that we needed two meters. So now we have one in the kitchen and one in the garage.
It wasn't until we received our first bills that we discovered this meant we would have to pay two separate standing charges. We've phoned up the company South Staffs Water (according to the bills) and they say there's nothing they or we can do about it. Also, we cannot have the meters removed and revert to the old billing method.
Obviously, if the fitter had told us we would have to pay two standing charges we would have chosen to have a single meter in the driveway.
Has anyone faced a similar situation or have any suggestions?

Woodstok2000

The standing charge usually includes at least a protion for meter reading and maintenance, so from that perspective it is right you pay two fees for two meters. It sounds like your supply is split somewhere under the drive so you either have one meter before the split, or two after it.

Could you have the 2 meters removed and replaced with one meter under the drive? How many years would it take for the saved cost of 1 standing fee to exceed the cost of digging up your drive?

QrizB

Has anyone faced a similar situation or have any suggestions?

Are you using the pipe in the garage? If not, could you have that supply terminated and the meter removed? Have you asked your water company about this?

crypticcrossword

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82178590#Comment_82178590

Thanks, yes, we've asked. Apparently, since Nov 25 the company can't remove meters due to our water scarcity area.

crypticcrossword

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82178495#Comment_82178495

The standing charge seems to be about £260 per meter per year. Not 100% sure on that yet. I have no idea how much digging up the driveway would cost, but the fitter mentioned that it never looks the same afterwards, hence our decision to have two meters. However, he didn't mention the additional standing charge. He was definitely pushing towards fitting two meters.
He also happened to fit the meter under the sink so that it's impossible to read it manually (it's turned sideways and faces a pipe). Not a huge problem because it's a smart meter, but when we move out we won't be able to take a reading on the day. I don't want to muddy the water but this is an example of what this man was like.

Woodstok2000

You must have a big meter based on the fees on p16 here:

https://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/media/ybghreml/customer-charges-south-staffs-2026-27.pdf

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82178954#Comment_82178954

It is not that they cannot remove meters and the associated supply, or fit a single meter, what they will not do is remove a meter and let a customer return to an unmetered supply.

If you wanted the meter to the garage removed as well as the supply they would do that, or if you wanted a meter fitted under the drive to cover both I suspect they would do that (although they may charge), what they are not going to to is remove the meters and let you have all you can use water supply again.

crypticcrossword

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82178976#Comment_82178976

Thanks very much for this. I'm sure it will be very useful though at the moment I can't figure out what it means in terms of our bills. Our meters are the smallest kind.
I think the standing charge is expressed as the Total Water Charge, and for one meter it's £130.89 (meter under the sink 24th March to 7th Sept.), for the meter in the garage it's £113.17 24th March 30th Sept. There's no breakdown for water supply, sewerage and surface water drainage as specified in the pdf.
The only other individual items on the bills are called Used Water Charge.

Lorian

Did they undertake a survey before the installation visit, as per their process

https://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/household/my-water-meter/how-to-switch-to-a-water-meter

crypticcrossword

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82179702#Comment_82179702

They called us, no one visited. The fitter only paid one visit, when he installed the meters.