help...water bill is Ј4000 a year.

A question about : help...water bill is Ј4000 a year.

Ok brief summary

1. moved into our house 4 years ago.

2. water meter installed. We have been paying Ј4000 a year for two adults both working fulltime

3. essex and suffolk have sent us letters claiming a leak on property.

4. I have searched and searched and found none.

5 recently had our first baby and what with maternity leave and losing her salary I made a fuss

6 water company installed a flow meter and asked us to record water usage. we did this and according to them it showed average usage.I asked them why we were paying so much and they accused me of having a leak which I had mended!

7 I got angry and and they agreed to instal a flow meter for a month to prove the meter was correct.

8. was contacted by the water company 3 days ago to say the flow meter showed average consumption ex cept.. ready..sit dow... on the 9th June between 7pm and 9pm the next day a flow of 14000 litres.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked them to explain and they said we must have left a tap on... I said dont be stupid and they said tough... I asked them what my options are and they said that I should monitor thr meter each day .. when I ponited out that if I had another spike they would just say it was my fault they agreed....

I dont know what to do now. I dont think it sounds like Im paying for my neighbours as it was aone off spike oin one 24htr period. The only other thing I can think is that there is apumping station opposite my house owned by anglian water. I wondered if that might be taking water from us ,, alarge flushing (I dont know Im grasping at straws). I rang anglian water but they said they dont have access to any records on the pumping house but agreed the 14000 lts in 24 hours was ridiculous...

Essex and suffoldk have absolutely confirmed that my property has no leaks.... what do I do... Im desperate!!!!!

Best answers:

• forgot to add.. the conversation with essex and suffolk finished with them saying...'not our problem'....
• Turn all the water off in your house and see if the meter is still whizzing round - and video it.
• when????...... thats the problem in one month it was 24hr spike...how do i know when its going to happen..or shall I turn the water off for one month.......If it does keep spinning then they will say its a tap on again....
• What kind of meter is it ?
• WATER METER IS A MECHANICAL ONE BUT THE FLOW METER IS ELECTRONIC....
  I ASKED ALL THOSE QUESTIONS AND THE ANSWER WAS... DONT KNOW..NOT OUR PROBLEM....!!!
  SORRY BOUT CPS..TYPED THIS FAR AND REALISED THEY WERE on.............
• the bloke Im talking to says he is the manager.... are ofwat any good... who is the onus on to sort this out me or the water company and lastly.... this has been going on for 4 years! can i get my money back........
• my calculations say one liter every 6.1 seconds!
• OK anyway :
  First off make an appointment to have the meter flow tested ( yes I know it seem silly but you need a guy there from the water board to say yes that is your meter, yes that is your recording and to stand there and say it does not record once the supply is off etc)
  Then once that visit has confirmed your msn and the flow meter is showing normal adc etc write to the water company as a CROSS complaint.
  Confirm the results of their own visit and ask them how they come to the figure of the bill and also ask for a FULL statement of account to show readings and ask them to confirm the actual readings they have taken.
  They have to reply within 10 days and it must then be in writing : now 2 things can happen> 1 the person writing the letter doesn't want to put there name to something so actually works through the problem ( trust me that does happen often) and gets a meter replacement booked and goes from there or you get a standard reply.
  If you get the standard reply with no help the very next step is CCW and OFWAT and cc the water company in.
  You need to work out what is being recorded and by getting their flow test you can say 100% that they confirmed the meter does not over record or spin with no flow. Then it is down to there being a leak or drain on the supply.
• If that much water is genuinely going through your supply, then I can see them saying it's not their problem. Any neighbouring property has something like a swimming pool or runs something like a jet wash every now and then? There would have to be a pipe branching off somewhere between the meter and where the main pipe goes into your house for that. If there's no sign of any work having been done after the property was built, I'm not sure how you'd check that. Know anyone with a metal detector?
  2 hours is 2*60*60 seconds = 7200 seconds, so my calculation makes it 1 litre in just over 0.5 seconds!
• OK...
  1. They have confirmed 100% that my property has no leak and that my meter registers no movement when all water is shut off in the prop.
  2. manager says that he will send me the data showing the spike and confirm that the investigation is closed and they will not be doing anymore.
  3. They have 100% confirmed the spike as 14000 lts in 24HRS...
  4. my only neighbour... I live in the country does not have a swimming pool or anything else like that.
  5. surely if my supply branches off after the meter to the pump house or another prop or a farm then that is not my responsiblity but the idiot who fitted the meter. Surely they have a grid map and if not they shouldnt be fitting meters.
• Id write to the Daily Mail or Sun - let them investigate for you. Its ridiculous to be paying that much a year.
• where is the meter ?
  If the water in your property is shut off and no flow was recorded then I am not really sure what else the water company would do. They have covered all the things they should as far as I can see but that does not rule out a joint private supply which would be nothing to do with them.
  They should have the details of main pipe work and their own but they will not have details of anything they did not install ( normally)
  I honestly can't see you being attached to a pump house as they would have that info and GISST shows where they all are.
  It is starting to sound like there might be a private supply off yours if the water company have no clue at all.
• 'If the water in your property is shut off and no flow was recorded then I am not really sure what else the water company would do.'
  if that is true and there is a private supply then as they are the ones who insisted on a meter surely I have some rights here. The supply would have been installed long before meters were invented when we all paid rates. The house is 500 years old. To then put one in and say ..'we dont know where its all going but you can pay' . 14000 ltres in one 24 hr period!!! ..cant be in any sense of the word right or fair!... whats more this has been going on for 4 years by the looks of it.........can I insist they remove the meter as the location it has been put is obviously wrong!!!
• Didn't say it was fair at all but it happens. Private supplies are nothing to do with them and as they have none of the details how would they know it was even there ?
  Although that is not to say it is hopeless, they might well offer assessed rate as a solution or relocate the meter..you never did say where it is ?
  Maybe an internal one would be the answer and they would be able to help with that.
  They might go back through your bill and work something out but I am not sure legally they have too though.
  As far as they are concerned the water is going somewhere and that somewhere is nothing to do with them so they want paying..This kind of things does also happen with bedsits when the landlord has one meter in that supplies the whole place and the bill ends up in some poor tenants name.
  I would still write to them and get it checked out and also check your deeds to see if there is any hint of anything else on your property.
• 'I really can't see them being interested as this is hardly national news..It's not like anyone is dying or it is a mass problem, one person has paid Ј4k for the last couple of years...which if nothing else proves that they could afford to pay it as if I got a bill like that I would be in court for non payment.
  So the question I would ask if I read this in the paper was : Why on earth did someone wait this long and why on earth should I care that they had a massive bill they could afford to pay when there are oap's out there that make a choice between heat and food..'
  thanks for that... not very helpfull and rather judgemental I would suggest.
  For your interest I have been looking for any leaks and arguing with them for 4 years. Its taken that long to get the flow meter installed.
  The reason I pay is that I cant afford to go to court as failing to pay a lawful debt is a sacking offence in my proffession.
  But hey ho who cares... obviously not you and I shall carry on paying shall I? I asked for help not stupid judgemental claptrap.
• thats ok... its not fair but it happens... the waters going somewhare the company who own it dont know where but I shall keep paying... excellent.
  The meter is on the pavement outside the house.
  Never mind I can afford it. I must be able to because I dont go to court so therefore its my responsiblity. Do you work for the water company? just wondering as youir about as helpful and have the same floored logic.
  'the previous owner never complained sir'..
  'no he didnt..but then he didnt have a water meter did he and wasnt being charge 4 grand a year'..
  'yes that true'....
  If they are not 100% sure the water meter only monitors one dwelling then they shouldnt fit a meter should they. Otherwise why not just put it at the beginning of the road and charge me for the whole village?
  It should be crystal clear that something was seriously amiss when the last flow test came back and surely they should either find out what or put the property back on a ratable value and refund anything above that.