Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

bargainpault

About 2 years ago, I claimed back from Thames Water the maximum set by OFWAT which is only the last year's payment for surface water drainage charges. The onus is on the water customer to read their bills where this is appararently advised.

In my opinion this borders on inertia selling as I was unaware of changes made in 1984.

Can Martin please start a campiagn to persude OFWAT to allow claims back beyond one year as in the case of myself and many other water customers, claims for several years could be substantial?

BBC TV's Watchdog programme also covered this on Monday 13 April 2009

Link available on request.

Psykicpup

keith23 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
my names Keith and this is my first post.

After reading through all the posts in this thread i was inspired to try and bring my water bill with Southern Water down by asking for a meter. I live alone in a one bed flat and have just had the 01/04/09 - 31/03/10 bill through my door which has increased to £323.42. I've been here 3 years.

Using the info from this thread i contacted my landlord, unfortunately i rent, but he refused to have a meter installed as, "it makes properties harder to rent"! He said southern water aren't interested in installing meters in his properties when new tenants come in and when i spoke to SW about it they indeed showed no interest whatsoever! After explaining that i live alone, only have a normal shower and don't water the garden or have a swimming pool etc i then asked them for an assessed water charge but they refused saying they only do this if fitting a meter is impossible so sorry, but hard luck, the bill stands!

Have i done all i can and am just unlucky until the regulations get changed or is there anything else i can do to try and obtain a fairer charge?

Thanks very much for any advice on this and for waking me up to this in the first place!

Hi Keith & welcome
Are the bills in your name or your landlords, as it must be the person who is 'responsible' for the bills : ie the person named, who applies for the meter. If your landlord has insisted on the bills remaining in his name then there may not be much you can do. Check the bills & your tenancy agreement

nathanimate

Although the article estimates the annual bill cost, Thames water in oxford charges us for 18 months instead of 12, most of which in advance. Sep08-Apr10. I am now (apr09) being asked to pay about £530, even though my contract will expire on Sep09. I have asked them to pay till Sep09, but they told me I will need to pay until Apr10 in advance even if I will no longer be living in that property, and they will send the extra money paid(9/09-4/10) back to me in sep09.
This doesn't sound too logical to me. Any ideas on what to do? What is the point of paying so much money in advance an having it returned in a few months time?

Headsabovewater

@Nathanite
You are billed in advance for your water as you don't have a water meter.
If you don't want to pay in full then setup a watercard or direct debit payment plan on a monthly basis.
This way any adjustment when you leave the property will be minimull.

oscar41

I have just moved my 90 year old mother from a one bedroomed bungalow, where she had a water meter. She had already paid, £200 via monthly direct debit, on leaving we were presented with a further bill of £224. If she had been on an ordinary water charge, it would have been around the £274 for the whole year, so the water meter cost her £150 more to have. She will now have to pay that plus the new properties water bill over the coming year.

Cardew

oscar41 wrote: »

I have just moved my 90 year old mother from a one bedroomed bungalow, where she had a water meter. She had already paid, £200 via monthly direct debit, on leaving we were presented with a further bill of £224. If she had been on an ordinary water charge, it would have been around the £274 for the whole year, so the water meter cost her £150 more to have. She will now have to pay that plus the new properties water bill over the coming year.

Welcome to the forum.

Your mother's case is atypical.

How much water does £424 represent? Prices vary across the country but on average that would be over 200 cubic metres - The average for a single person is 60 cubic metres per year.

There was(is?) either a leak, she watered the garden a lot, or left taps running.

jeferey

I've had my meter for 19 days now and we have used 5.5 m3. We are in Severn Trent area - how long does it take for them to contact us? I have estimated the cost will be 5.5 * (1.3006 + 0.8439) = £11.79 which equates to £226.58 / year. I've got these figures from their website (www.stwater.co.uk) but it also mentions a standing charge depending on size of meter which varies between £23.68 and £45.91 - how do you know which one? Anyway, it should be a big saving for us on our £502 on the rateable value. Time will tell! Thanks for advice on this forum.

Cardew

jeferey wrote: »

I've had my meter for 19 days now and we have used 5.5 m3. We are in Severn Trent area - how long does it take for them to contact us? I have estimated the cost will be 5.5 * (1.3006 + 0.8439) = £11.79 which equates to £226.58 / year. I've got these figures from their website (www.stwater.co.uk) but it also mentions a standing charge depending on size of meter which varies between £23.68 and £45.91 - how do you know which one? Anyway, it should be a big saving for us on our £502 on the rateable value. Time will tell! Thanks for advice on this forum.

I think most domestic meters are the smallest 15mm.

Ensure that they don't try to charge you for surface water drainage - if you have a soakaway.

eeeeeee

is the meter situated inside or outside your property , meters on small 15mm connections are usually inside ... most meteres nowadays are situated outside the property .

jeferey

Cardew wrote: »

I think most domestic meters are the smallest 15mm.
Ensure that they don't try to charge you for surface water drainage - if you have a soakaway.

We don't have a soakaway