Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

Jays

Hi there

South East Water have just installed a compulsory water meter.

There is a section in their leaflet referring to 'Phase in Option' which is an option to spread any increase in charges over our first four metered bills (ie over two years). However, when we go to the website to apply for this, there is nothing about it. I wondered if anyone has successfully applied for this or knows anything about it?

Many thanks in advance.
Jays

pampanua

have been trying to sell my house for the last year and it's been empty with the water turned off at the mains, i informed the water company but still have substantial standing charges for water supply and used water and a full charge for domestic surface water drainage. is there nothing that can be done about this? - as no water has run through the property, only rain water has drained

Gothicfairy

Get the water disconnected and then they can apply the void policy

pampanua

sadly it's too late for that as i've had to give up on selling and tenants have now moved in.

Gothicfairy

OK, so nothing can be done then.. The supply was there for you to use and that means the standing charges are valid.

MaryJo987

Water Meter Scam.
Gas and electric meters are installed within or on your property whereas water meters are installed on the public highway so beware... don't touch them. What if the water pipe leading to your property sprung leak? You know what would happen. I live in a block of maisonettes and the grounds belong to the landlord. This means our refuse is collected from our front door because that is the edge of our properties. But the water company installs it's meters out on the public pavement making the consumer responsible for non-domestic leaks between the meter on the public highway an the edge of his property. I witnessed a burst pipe out on the pavement between the pavement stop-!!!! and the front door to one of the flats, which rose up like a fountain and wasn't fixed for more than four hours. Fortunately the resident didn't have a water meter otherwise he'd have been bankrupt. Domestic meters should be installed on or within one's property not the public highway lining the shareholders' pockets.

Stoace

Hi,

I run 2 businesses both identical in use of water and style of operation. 1 is metered, the annual usage is working out at roughly 300 cubic meters per year whereas the other is billed based on number of employees (3) and is estimated at 500 cubic meters per year this works out at roughly £350 more.

Both are supplied by Thames Water however they say that the cost is fixed based on the number of employees and can't be reassessed. Does anyone know of anything that I can do to resolve this?

TW have advised the only option they can suggest is having a water meter fitted however this would have to be done by installing a new supply to this address all at my cost.

Thanks

Gothicfairy

Sorry but that is the way business supplies are assessed where a meter can not be installed. There is no other option other then a meter so that is the only way to resolve it.

mart.vader

MaryJo987 wrote: »

Water Meter Scam.
Gas and electric meters are installed within or on your property whereas water meters are installed on the public highway so beware... don't touch them. What if the water pipe leading to your property sprung leak? You know what would happen. I live in a block of maisonettes and the grounds belong to the landlord. This means our refuse is collected from our front door because that is the edge of our properties. But the water company installs it's meters out on the public pavement making the consumer responsible for non-domestic leaks between the meter on the public highway an the edge of his property. I witnessed a burst pipe out on the pavement between the pavement stop-!!!! and the front door to one of the flats, which rose up like a fountain and wasn't fixed for more than four hours. Fortunately the resident didn't have a water meter otherwise he'd have been bankrupt. Domestic meters should be installed on or within one's property not the public highway lining the shareholders' pockets.

Sorry, but you are 100% incorrect.

Although for convenience, it is usually said that everything "down-stream" of your meter is the customer's responsibility, this is not quite correct.

It should really be "everything down-stream of the meter and also on the customer's property is the customer's legal responsibility".

Even Water Companies, rapacious b*stards that they are, would not be able to make you liable for leaks not on your property.

That said, for some years, Water Co's, to get the leakage rate down and to score Brownie points with OFWAT, have offered a subsidised leak repair service for leaks on the customer's property, and a "leak allowance" for the first leak that occurs (but not subsequent leaks) that result in an increased water bill.

BobbieL

When we moved into our house over 10 years ago water meters were already installed in the village and we were quite happy as it reduced the bills we paid in our previous house. However, recently we had an extension built and the builders discovered that our water supply was also connected to our neighbours garage. Understandably this would not have come to light had our building work not been taking place. The situation was soon rectified which reduced our monthly water bill by £5! Can't imagine how much we have been paying for somebody else to wash their car and water the garden over the years. When our house was built in the '60s I believe that this was the norm as everybody paid the same bills so it didn't matter that the supply pipes were shared. Not sure how you would find out if you have a shared supply now.