Anglian Water Dispute

sabelu

I have a long running dispute with AW over my Oct 06 - Apr 07 account where they changed my meter through the period. When my account came through I queried that altho I had had fewer residents in my property (kids gone to Uni) my bill had increased and I asked could a mistake have been made particularly when the meter was changed as I had not seen the old/new meter reads to agree. They did some investigation and said that there was a small error which amounted to around £10. In the meantime my next half year arrived so I made that payment as this dispute was not about trying to get out of paying, however that bill really substantiated my argument in terms of the number of people in the property as there had been more in the house over that period and the bill was cheaper. Therefore I questioned once again their argument but made what I thought was a fair payment leaving a balance of £105 which I thought was what they had overcharged. They dismissed this and I therefore escalated to the regulator who has looked at the situation and although they can see my argument the reads etc and the old meter they believe AW have been honest. They say the file is now closed. AW are escalating to a debt Agency.
Is there anymore I can do ?

Cardew

Let them take civil action in the courts - which could cost you a fortune with costs awarded against you; and with the Regulator ruling against you, your chances are not high.

You will then have a record with the Credit Reference agencies.

On the other hand if you pay them the money owed, with a note it is under protest, you may be able to sue them in the small claims court which will not cost you much.

I still don't think you will win, but they might 'cave in' simply to avoid the publicity and expense.

deanos

The new meter readings wont be indispute as it will start at zero.

When it was exchanged a meter reading would have been taken which is used to produced the bill, was the last reading from the old meter a actuall reding or estimate ? it will say this on the bill.

sabelu

The old reading was an actual am aware the new meter should be zero, I hope that the final read on old meter was accurate they saying it was. For sure something is wrong.

deanos

If the final reading on the old meter was an actual reading, there is not a lot you can do unless you can prove otherwise.

Its a tough one as the ombudsman has agreed with Anglian Water, if you took them to court they will be able to produce the readings and use the ombudsman's findings , you will have to prove otherwise which i dont know how you can, the only way is to get AW to take 2 check readings 7 days apart to calculate your usage, to produce an estimated consumption and work it out from there.

Just because you have less people in your house dosent mean you use less water.

sabelu

Just got a letter from AW and they have reviewed and cancelled the remaining amount. It pays to challenge

seanconlin

I recently received a bill for £26,000 after the meter was changed.
I told Anglian water that even if I ran my tap permanently for 6 months it would stil be impossible to consume 6 cubic metres an hour of water. Even if the pressure would allow as much I would be swamped. It appears to me that the meter was fitted at 10,000 on the display and not 00,000 as they say. The meter is clunking and vibrating when water is drawn. Theyve agreed to change the meter but suggested that my previous bills could have been less because the old meter was under measuring......So yes! maybe I do actually use £52,000 worth of water a year. :rotfl: Dont these people realise it takes 20 minutes to run a bath at 3 bar pressure, how the hell would I get 2 cubic metres in 20 minutes...Constantly !!