Help! Wrong Estimate leading to Massive Actual Reading Bill
Bitcoinguy
Posts: 14 Forumite
in Water bills
Hi,
I am in a massive bill dilemma and I am hoping someone can help me. I am in a 1 bed house, a couple working full time. House has a standing shower, a simple kitchen tap and a simple bathroom sink.
I recently received my Water bill for a usage of 117m3 from June 2018 to Dec 2018(188 days), 117000L for 188 days, working out at 622L per day.
That is way above the estimate even for a house with 5 people, which is actually 85m3.
I am shocked at this. I recently moved into the place in April 2018. And I was given an estimated bill for April 2018 to June 2018, which was £46, which was not an alarming figure then. But now, the bill was taken based on actual readings. By the looks of it, using their estimate in April 2018 and the actual read in Dec 2018, I used 170m3!
I have checked and there is no leak, closed off all taps and monitored the meter reading for an hour - no indicative leak problems there.
Upon investigating further, it seems like the Water company guesstimated my water meter reading in April 2018, whilst assuming that since the last bill prior to April 2018 (Nov 2017), the water usage was 0, so the previous occupiers until April 2018 supposedly used NO water at all.
I have records of the actual reading in April 2018 when I moved in somewhere and I need to find it.
Can someone please explain how to sort this mess out?:(:(:(
I am in a massive bill dilemma and I am hoping someone can help me. I am in a 1 bed house, a couple working full time. House has a standing shower, a simple kitchen tap and a simple bathroom sink.
I recently received my Water bill for a usage of 117m3 from June 2018 to Dec 2018(188 days), 117000L for 188 days, working out at 622L per day.
That is way above the estimate even for a house with 5 people, which is actually 85m3.
I am shocked at this. I recently moved into the place in April 2018. And I was given an estimated bill for April 2018 to June 2018, which was £46, which was not an alarming figure then. But now, the bill was taken based on actual readings. By the looks of it, using their estimate in April 2018 and the actual read in Dec 2018, I used 170m3!
I have checked and there is no leak, closed off all taps and monitored the meter reading for an hour - no indicative leak problems there.
Upon investigating further, it seems like the Water company guesstimated my water meter reading in April 2018, whilst assuming that since the last bill prior to April 2018 (Nov 2017), the water usage was 0, so the previous occupiers until April 2018 supposedly used NO water at all.
I have records of the actual reading in April 2018 when I moved in somewhere and I need to find it.
Can someone please explain how to sort this mess out?:(:(:(
0
Comments
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Did you not sent the water, gas, and elc people your readings when you first moved in?0
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Did you not sent the water, gas, and elc people your readings when you first moved in?
Gas and Electricity - they requested those details and I gave them.
Water - there was no request from them. I was moving in after 5 years, and was never made aware of sending actual readings. Actual reading was taken for my own records on 10 April 2018 when I actually moved in. Water company never asked for actual reading. I was then billed about 7 weeks later at a cost of £46 via DD which seemed normal to me, thus I had no reason to raise a question about the meter reading/bill amount.0 -
If you didn't send in a reading how do think they knew what it was. It looks like you could be paying for the previous tenants water especially if they didn't bother to send in their reading either when they moved out.
If you felt that you needed a reading in April why did you not think to give it to the water co. In what way is a water meter reading different to a gas or leccy one.
When you got the bill that they did send did you not compare it with the actual reading to ensure that it was correct.
Bills need to be checked and correcetd when they come in not 6-8 months later. You need to try and find the April reading and ask the water co to revise the bill but I suspect that they aren't under any obligation to do so.
They dont know whether you've had a massive leak, filled a swimming pool or even had an irrigation system running all summer. Even a leaking toilet cistern can get through a lot of water over six months.Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers0 -
Upon investigating further, it seems like the Water company guesstimated my water meter reading in April 2018, whilst assuming that since the last bill prior to April 2018 (Nov 2017), the water usage was 0, so the previous occupiers until April 2018 supposedly used NO water at all.
I have records of the actual reading in April 2018 when I moved in somewhere and I need to find it.
If the previous occupants didn't contact the water company; no bill would have been raised for the period Nov 17 to April 18 and you could be paying for that period. Check your bill and see what you have been billed for standing charges.
If you have the meter reading there should be no problem in the water company accepting that figure and re-billing. If not contact the Consumer Council for Water and ask them to sort it out.0
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