Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

BackOnTrack

AJOY wrote: »

Hi - can anyone advise please? We have installed a water pipe to connect to mains on a new build - the trench was approved. The Water Board connected us and put us on a meter. We had a faulty meter. They replaced it. We have since had 2 massive leaks - £10,000 plus in bills! Is it law to stay on a meter or can we have it removed? Is there any experience of writing off such daft bills. We used to pay £35 a month for our young family of 4. We now pay well in excess of £100 for same family, and looking at bill, will be doing so until retirement! THANK YOU!

£10,000 in bills that is insane and would equate to you leaking over 6-9 million litres of water, if this is the water company bill. How much of this 10k was the repair cost? You might want to talk to your developer or the NHBC about covering the repair cost.

Assuming you are in England, the only way you can have a water meter removed is if you chose to have one installed so as it is a new build you live in then no you can't have it removed.

If your bills are that large you are wasting a lot of water. A bill of one hundred pounds per month I would roughly calculate to usage of 641 litres per person per day in your household. Unless you are receiving dialysis or something at home this indicates you are wasting a lot of water.

Gothicfairy

AJOY wrote: »

Hi - can anyone advise please? We have installed a water pipe to connect to mains on a new build - the trench was approved. The Water Board connected us and put us on a meter. We had a faulty meter. They replaced it. We have since had 2 massive leaks - £10,000 plus in bills! Is it law to stay on a meter or can we have it removed? Is there any experience of writing off such daft bills. We used to pay £35 a month for our young family of 4. We now pay well in excess of £100 for same family, and looking at bill, will be doing so until retirement! THANK YOU!

If you actually had massive leaks and the water was used ( all be in by a leak) then the bill could be correct but you could try for a leak allowance/ adjustment form > it might not work but worth a shot. Take a meter reading now and one in week, call the company and advise then of your ADC and ask if you could apply for any kind of adjustment.
As you are a new bill there is no RV to revert back to so I am afraid you are stuck with a meter.
I am also afraid that although the bill might sound daft to you if it is water that was recorded through the meter and is correct by way of the leak then they are going to look to someone to pay it cos if the leak was not the water companies fault then why should they cover the loss ?

Which company are you with as that might make a difference

bishee

I seem to recall that there is a scam that Water Boards are applying to all bills - to do with rainwater or recovery of surface water ... but somewhere, I once read, there is a way to recover much of this cost going back for a period of five years or so.

I recall that you simply have to provide a statement to the effect that this recovered water goes back into the water system via sewage piping rather than into a soakaway from the rainwater pipes.

Have a look at your water bill - and you are charged for the water you use minus the water that is put back into the system. What I cannot fathom out is that although Water Companies fit water meters to gauge how much water is used, how can they say how much water is put back into the system. As far as I am aware, there is no meter that measures the outflow from a house

Gothicfairy

It is not a scam, bills come with Surface water drainage applied and they are allowed to do that with the backing of OFWAT( not saying I agree )
If your property is not connected for SWD then you can call your water company and ask for their advice, most will tell you to write in with a diagram but a couple do send out forms. You get that sent off and they then come and visit and if you are not connected they will remove that from the bill.
They only have to go back to the first of the year you applied in, the first of the year being 01 April. There is no need for them to go back further and they would also argue that each bill does give details about SWD and how to get it back.

The outflow or used water is guessed at really but people with a massive garden or with a pool that does not return that water can apply for a reduction in the used water part of the bill, that is normally done by a sub meter that records the usage from that one tap or supply and that is then used as a clean water calculation but the used is removed from that.
But that is not the same as SWD.

scooby75

I've had a water meter fitted and my last half year bill was just under £50 - less than half of what it used to be. It was difficult at first adjusting. For example, when getting a shower, I don't leave the shower running all the time like I used to, and when running off water (with the hot water tap), any run off is bottled and used for things like watering plants. We don't leave the tap running when brushing teeth and leftover water used from cooking goes into the compost. You also realise how much water gets wasted.

I'm soon moving house but the toilet in the new house needs replacing (I just want to explain this in case anyone thinks I'm strange!). When flushing the toilet, the stopcock opens up the inlet when the toilet is still flushing, so the cistern is filling up at the same time it is being flushed. The salesman at the new showroom told me that this can be as much as a litre per flush.

To be honest, if I'd have known before about the things we do now to save water, I probably wouldn't be bothered and would have stuck to rates, but now we're used to it there are no problems. I also thought the savings would be minimal, but that was based on how we used to use water. When you pay for what you use instead of having "unlimited", you soon change!

Mr_Froggy

Hi there

I've live in building that has been many things over the last few years like a commercial department store, night club, but over the last few years the 1st to 3rd floors have been converted into apartments, now I've just received my 1st quarterly bill and have been charged £13 (with a fixed charge of £9.95) for water usage as there is a water meter installed but the sewerage charge is £12 with a fixed charge of £26.

Now I'm just wondering since the building has ground floor offices and 3 floors of apartments, I'm wondering if the sewerage charges can be correct?

Cardew

Mr_Froggy wrote: »

Hi there

I've live in building that has been many things over the last few years like a commercial department store, night club, but over the last few years the 1st to 3rd floors have been converted into apartments, now I've just received my 1st quarterly bill and have been charged £13 (with a fixed charge of £9.95) for water usage as there is a water meter installed but the sewerage charge is £12 with a fixed charge of £26.

Now I'm just wondering since the building has ground floor offices and 3 floors of apartments, I'm wondering if the sewerage charges can be correct?

Welcome to the forum.

Is that a water meter for the whole building or just your flat?

Mr_Froggy

The water meter is just for my flat

Gothicfairy

Some water companies are more expensive for sewerage then for clean water.
It does depend which company you are with.

Cardew

Mr_Froggy wrote: »

The water meter is just for my flat

Then you pay for what you have used in Cubic Metres and the same for sewerage, plus a standing charge for water and sewerage - you can find the charges on your company's website.