Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

Bagatelle

I am outraged that anyone could encourage/teach their young boys to wee in the street in order to save water at home - whatever next, and how tight can you get? Get some rainwater to use in the toilet or save on something else and bring the boys up as decent and considerate citizens. These boys will grow up thinking it is normal to use the streets as a toilet (which is an offence anyway and you can be fined), and they will join the low-life who foul our towns and cities with their spit, urine and vomit. It is offensive, rude and filthy. Shame on this family, they are selfish and obviously also quite inconsiderate of other users of our streets, shame on moneysavingexpert.com to see fit to put this forward as a way of saving water.

Gothicfairy

homeed wrote: »

Have I got this right - that Im only meant to be paying one standing charge if I have two different water companies?

No you will have 2 standing charges but combined it will only come to the same as the one.

But it depends on who bills you, normally one company will bill for both services so you wouldn't notice the difference to be honest but not all water companies work together like that.

billtomany

down here in the South it is not unusual to have separate bills, from separate companies.
Supply has one Standing Charge and Waste has 3 Standing Charges. Each company has different dates when the tariffs change.
When I was in the North, I remember that Severn Trent used to have a 4th Standing Charge on Waste. The latter was for "administration", as if making out a bill was especially arduous!

The point is that there is a free bill calculator available for Android, here:-

1bill2many.co.uk

Amongst other things

Gothicfairy

I have never heard of 4 standing charges as there is only water and waste..

cghw01

I notice that one tip in the original article is to use rainwater to flush the loo. However, using buckets is such a faff.

I have noticed that commercial rainwater harvesting systems cost ~£2500 or more. I haven't tried it yet, but I would have thought you could set up a pipe from a standard water butt and feed it in to the toilet through the wall and use an electric pump to fill the cistern. Total cost perhaps £50. (You can get some water pumps for as little as £15). I think you would get your money back on such a setup within a few months.
Anyone got any thoughts on whether there are major drawbacks with this approach?

Chris W

wildfirejc

Jimiwake wrote: »

Hi all,

I've recently signed up to a new company called Smart Source Water who offer guaranteed savings off water bills.

The theory is that they can analyse the bill to find ways of cutting it down as most water companies are overcharging through various surcharges or using incorrect rateable values.

So far so good. Has anyone else used this company or got any feedback?

Hi all, I am new to this but my recent experience with this company Smartsource Water has spurred me to join this forum and ask a few vital questions:-

How many of you out there have signed up with Smartsource Water who guarantees to cut your bills by 10% and guarantees that in the next 4 years, you don't need to pay for any hikes in charges?

My questions are:- How is this company funded? Are the directors super-rich philanthropists?

How much is the paid up share capital of this private limited company?

When we sign up with them, we are only contracting them to pay our water bills on our behalf - so we are still directly liable to the water bill suppliers - and if that is the case, when we pay monthly to SSW (Smartsource Water), how are they safe-keeping our funds to ensure that whatever we've paid to them will be passed on to the waterbill companies every 6 mths - because at this point in time, the water bill suppliers are charging us on a 6-mthly basis.
What happens if SSW goes belly-up in mth 5? We've paid them in advance, so if they don't have "insurance" against their liquidation and loss of our funds, it means, at the end of mth 6, I will be faced with a full bill from the water suppliers...plus I'll never see my funds paid over to SSW again.

What happens if the water hikes are too much and they find they can't pay our bills like they guaranteed? It is after all a 4 year contract we've signed with them! Do the underpaid amounts mount up and at the end of the 4 years, we face a thumping big bill we never envisaged?

People have a saying "Put your money where your mouth is" = so where is SSW's money?

I don't get it and the Veolia lad whom I spoke to don't get it either. He thought it was too good to be true...
So I'd like to hear from someone who knows anything more.

By the way, I got in touch with SSW through Makeitcheaper.com - and they said they know the answers but they'd get back to me when they dig the answers up.
I am still waiting....
Oh and as a last point, they calculate my bill is going to be not more than £232 per year - and then they go on to say I've to pay them a mthly instalment of £21.42. That isn't 232 divided by 12 - so when I ask them, they said the extra is cos of the impending bill which they are accounting for - so I said, ok, let me pay off this impending bill when it comes and then I will sign up - and at the point in time, I would expect that my bill would be exactly £232/12 = 19.33

Gothicfairy

wildfirejc wrote: »

Hi all, I am new to this but my recent experience with this company Smartsource Water has spurred me to join this forum and ask a few vital questions:-

How many of you out there have signed up with Smartsource Water who guarantees to cut your bills by 10% and guarantees that in the next 4 years, you don't need to pay for any hikes in charges?

My questions are:- How is this company funded? Are the directors super-rich philanthropists?

How much is the paid up share capital of this private limited company?

When we sign up with them, we are only contracting them to pay our water bills on our behalf - so we are still directly liable to the water bill suppliers - and if that is the case, when we pay monthly to SSW (Smartsource Water), how are they safe-eeping our funds to ensure that whatever we've paid to them will be passed on to the waterbill companies every 6 mths - because at this point in time, the water bill suppliers are charging us on a 6-mthly basis.
What happens if SSW goes belly-up in mth 5? We've paid them in advance, so if they don't have "insurance" against their liquidation and loss of our funds, it means, at the end of mth 6, I will be faced with a full bill from the water suppliers...plus I'll never see my funds paid over to SSW again.

What happens if the water hikes are too much and they find they can't pay our bills like they guaranteed? It is after all a 4 year contract we've signed with them! Do the underpaid amounts mount up and at the end of the 4 years, we face a thumping big bill we never envisaged?

People have a saying "Put your money where your mouth is" = so where is SSW's money?

I don't get it and the Veolia lad whom I spoke to don't get it either. He thought it was too good to be true...
So I'd like to hear from someone who knows anything more.

By the way, I got in touch with SSW through Makeitcheaper.com - and they said they know the answers but they'd get back to me when they dig the answers up.
I am still waiting....

It's a con pure and simple..The bills are the bills and they go up in line with OFWAT agreed plans. If you are able to apply for a SWD rebate then you can do it yourself and don't need some other company to help you.
You are able to apply for a meter yourself etc etc...There is NO other way to make a water bill cheaper so I wouldn't bother touching this or any other company offering the same deal with someone else's barge pole let alone my own.

ndcam78

One thing I really do not understand, is that my bill has gone up from £340 to £490 that £150 that is way more than the top 8% you have mentioned.
Also I live in high rise flats and I would have thought our water rates would be less than a standard home as we all share the same supply/seware?
But I know my friend who lives in a house on the same street has always paid far less than me.

As I am in a flat I am told I can not have a water meter, but I live on my own and as I work 5 days a week I am really not in that much.

Can you offer any advise on how I can reduce this ridiculous bill? :mad:

Gregdav

I have just contacted Severn Trent on behalf of my son. He was told he could not have a meter because it was not possible to fit one when he moved about three months ago. As a consequence his annual bill was going to be about £450.
As a result of this weeks MSE email I spoke to Severn Trent and asked for an assesment instead of a meter. The result was that as he was a sole occupier his bill will now be £200.78 a year!
My point is that no-one has ever mentioned to him that it is possible to get a 'sole occupier' rate for his water supply. Severn Trent certainly didn't tell him when he moved or when he was refused a meter.
:money:
Well done MSE!!

Gotapikapokitor2

It seems to me that if I pay my Water bills 6-monthly when invoiced, it will be cheaper, because my Direct Debit is based on Anglian Water's ESTIMATE of usage, which seems to jump enormously - thus creating a larger bill (which they will refund any excess, if I ask nicely). How do I change back to the "Old-fashioned" system?