Shock Letter from Water Authority

A question about : Shock Letter from Water Authority

Hello All,

Some guidance from the well-informed, or the “been there – done it – got the t-shirt” amongst you would be much appreciated please.
I am currently in dispute with my local water authority, in respect of one of those letters that comes in the morning and spoils your day, your appetite and your sleep.
It starts “I am writing to you because we have noticed that your current payment amount is not enough to cover the charges on your account.” . . . and continues “A detailed review of your account shows that your latest bill will increase your account balance to Ј613.47. This means that your monthly payments will need to increase from Ј17.40 to Ј124.60 (gulp!) to cover the current charges on your account.”
In October of 2012 our area was to be switched from the Rateable Value system to metered charging for water and sewerage and on 18 October 2012 our own water meter was duly installed.
I had approached my water authority a couple of years previously to ask for a meter to be installed on the grounds that local folk in similar circumstances to ourselves claimed to be paying around just half of what we were paying under the Rateable Value scheme.
I was told that meter installation involving connection to lead (the metal) supply pipes was not feasible and that I would therefore have to expect to pay for upgrading them, before any such thing could take place.
On grounds of cost (we are pensioners on fixed pensions of diminishing purchasing power), I backed down from the idea.
The lead pipes however, appeared not to be a problem when the water authority actually imposed metering upon us!
We were offered the option of a trial consumption monitoring period in order to set a monthly direct debit payment plan, or immediate metering of our water consumption.
Keen to make savings as quickly as possible I opted for the latter.
I was delighted to note that my first monthly direct debit in November 2012 was only Ј2.00 (yes – two pounds), in comparison with the Rateable Value payment of Ј47.72 per month.
Of course I was gob-smacked at the reduction, but assumed (yes – I am aware of that old ASSuME chestnut) that the new payment had been back-dated to the start of that particular payment year and thought no more of it.
From November 2012 until August 2013, I continued to pay Ј2.00 per month.
In September 2013, my direct debit was increased to Ј17.40 and once again I assumed that with a year of water consumption under my belt that this was to bring things into line with actual recorded consumption.
I continued to pay at that same rate, until the arrival of said letter two days ago.
Of course, I called the water authority – saying that there must be some kind of mistake. How could my payment of Ј17.40 suddenly leap to Ј124.60?
The people in the accounts call centre were very sympathetic but insisted that the new figure reflected the amount of water we had actually used. We were even told that our consumption was the equivalent to that which seven people would use.
We are two OAP's. How could that be right?
I ran all the checks suggested on-line: leaks from pipes, dripping cisterns, dripping taps. Everything that I tried just drew a blank.
I lifted vinyl, carpet and floor traps and none revealed any under-floor leakage.
I called the authority again and this time the person that I spoke to agreed that the consumption put down to the two of us seemed improbable and that both of the direct debit amounts that I had been paying for the last 15 months looked to be incorrect.
After referring upwards, the agent was briefed to offer me a “goodwill gesture” of Ј25.00 discounted from the amount that the say they want from me.
They said that paying the right amount was “a shared responsibility” and that was all they could offer.
I responded by indicating that I thought it was a pittance.
They have arranged for their Water Usage Advisor, or “Green Doctor” to call on me to check things out, but I can't help thinking that there has been an accounting error of some magnitude at their end.
Why charge me just Ј2.00 per month? Where did that figure come from, if it wasn't for the reason I suspected?
Why then review it for Ј17.40, if that still wasn't going to be enough. Wasn't that fact that the figure had been reviewed at all enough to make me feel confident that they knew what they were doing?
As OAP's, our monthly pensions leave very little by the way of “disposable income” left over, so it will have to come out of our small amount of savings if we have to pay it all.
Can anyone advise on how we might play this one out, please?

Many thanks - rollon65.

Best answers:

• Some basics: have you actually verified the billing reads against the actual meter figures? Are they agent reads or estimated?
  Does the meter no. match that on the bill?
  If all correct above, you may have a leak between the meter and property that is not visible (i.e. in the garden, under a path etc). So do a flow test: turn off everything in the house for an hour and see if the meter moves.
• Hello macman.
  Many thanks for your response. At this point, I haven't had a bill, just this shocking letter. I did ask what meter reading they had on my last call to them, but other than offering me the twenty-five pounds they wanted me to wait until their water usage guy had paid us a visit.
  I have already done the check you suggested and the numbers remain the same - both the black ones and the red.
  As far as daily consumption goes, yesterdays 14:00hrs reading was 255/8 and todays at the same time was 256/2. I make that a consumption of 0.4cu.m. Multiply that by 365 days in the year and you get a very frugal 146cu.m per annum. No washing m/c activity today though, but all other water utilisation was pretty much as habit.
  What do you think of the logic behind a neighbours suggestion - DON'T turn the indoors stopcock off - use no water for an hour - then check the figures? The suggestion was that this might help detect an internal loss of water of some kind, if the alternative check had thrown up nothing.
  Regards - rollon65.
• You may possibly qualify for assistance from your water company's charitable trust to help clear what you owe. Just write and ask for the forms needed to apply.
• Hello Cardew/samsmoot,
  Many thanks for your most welcome contributions.
  Bizarre - we have used the washing machine today and my 14:00hrs check shows 256/6. 0.4cu.m. just like yesterday. How does that work?
  We are paying 116.9p per cu.m. for the water supply and 219.8 per cu.m. for waste drainage, plus the small standing charge.
  As I mentioned previously [After referring upwards, the agent was briefed to offer me a “goodwill gesture” of Ј25.00 discounted from the amount that the say they want from me.], but against a bill of Ј613.47, that's almost an insult, in view of the way the debt has been allowed to accumulate.
  I have a bill dated 10 September 2013, for the period 24 November 2012 - 23 May 2013 that shows a "Total now due" of Ј355.98. Underneath that figure is the statement "We have carried out a review of your payment scheme. Based on your current consumption the amounts you have to pay have been amended to Ј17.40 monthly from 25 Sep 2013.".
  There is even a side heading called "Adjustments" . . . and beside it Ј0.00, so was I to suspect that there was any kind of issue? I tend to think not.
  If what they say I owed them at that point was Ј355.98, even 12 monthly payments of Ј17.40 monthly would only deal with Ј208.80 of it - and then there's the small matter of our on-going consumption to take into account, isn't there?
  Just worth adding that when I did my secondary meter check (stopcock open, but no water usage) I noted a very small amount of rotation of the silver centre disk that gives the most sensitive indication of water movement.
  It was this that worried me yesterday, on the basis that it might just indicate a water leak inside my bungalow - heaven forbid.
  However, my neighbour was in his garden and kindly agreed to check his own meter out, on the basis that there was no water being used in his residence either. Lo and behold, the same amount of rotation of the silver centre disk was apparent.
  I hope that when the water usage expert turns up tomorrow, we shall get a clean bill of health and establish that there has been a major dereliction of proper accounting practice.
  After that, I don't know just how much understanding we shall receive in respect of the outstanding amount and I think we number amongst those many thousands of OAP's who just about manage to pay there own way in this world and are entitled to nothing - no help at all.
  Any further observations much appreciated, please.
  Regards - rollon65.
• Hi Rollon65,
  Your account is handled by a 'computer' without(normally) any human intervention. It graphically illustrates something that applies to all computers - 'Rubbish in = Rubbish out'
  It is obvious that with a Ј358 debit balance, that the DD should have risen to a much higher amount than Ј17.40 - that sum won't even cover your usage, let alone start to pay back arrears.
  However assuming the meter readings are accurate, you owe the money and it is just a question of how much you can get them to increase their goodwill offer and increase the period of time over which you pay back the arrears.
  If you offer to pay back all the arrears in one go, they might increase the goodwill compensation offer.
  With regards to a possible internal leak, the usual culprit is a cistern leaking water(silently) back into the toilet bowl. The trouble is it can have a leak but after one flush it can reduce as the mechanism(plunger) has moved slightly.
• Hello again Cardew,
  Really appreciate your sticking with me on this.
  I hear what you say about computer billing, but when I last enquired I'm pretty sure I heard my contact say "No - she's got this wrong. It can't be right".
  Unless the computer is female, I reckon there is still a human interface inputting details somewhere along the line.
  I reiterate the point, that after my (in hindsight) flawed assumption about the reason behind the paltry Ј2.00 direct debit, to be told that my consumption had been reviewed and I now needed to pay Ј17.40 would naturally allay any doubts that at that point I was now being presented with the correct figure. They had looked at it - the earlier figure did not represent the amount of our consumption - so here is this new figure revised on that basis.
  With regard to the leaking cistern, tomorrow will tell I hope, but to date I have checked for that kind of leakage by holding a piece of absorbent paper against the back of the bowl and to date there as been no sign of any water traveling down it between flushes. I do take your point though that it may be an intermittent thing and I just haven't been testing at the right time.
  If it turns out to be that, I will be happy, as the relative cost of putting that right is nothing compared to pulling floor boards up in every room where there is a water supply.
  Best regards - rollon65.
• If the dial is moving then you clearly have a leak-the odds are in this case that it is not in the property itself but in the supply pipe between the meter and the house, so it will not be visible.
  If there is a stopcock within the property at or near the point of entry, turn that off and test. If the meter still moves, then the leak is upstream of that stopcock, i.e. external.
• Hello to all respondents once again.
  The guy called to take a look at our water situation yesterday and I was delighted to see him take an inclusive view of things - the silly bills, our efforts to conserve our water consumption, the meter and the possibility of a leak, and so on.
  He checked out the leaky cistern possibility and gave that a clean bill of health too.
  I have to say that to date I have no complaint about their customer PR approach. If the solution of the problem follows on along the same lines it will be a great weight off our minds.
  He asked questions about our life-style, looked at our previous bills, then called base to set up a very reasonable revised direct debit sum of Ј31.00 per month, to be paid over a 12 month period, based on what he calculated our typical consumption should be.
  He said that there did appear to be a leak of some kind between my stopcock and the meter and has made me an appointment for Wednesday of next week for someone to come and try to actually locate the leak.
  I tackled him about the cost implications of remedying it and he said (quite categorically) that if the leak was in the section of the pipe between my stopcock and the meter, the water authority would repair it for free. I looked at my wife and back at him and asked him to re-iterate that - which he did.
  Why then do I receive those quite intimidating letter from Domestic & General acquainting me with the dire consequences of not having some kind of specific insurance in place for such situations?
  Two feet beyond the meter is the boundary of my front garden.
  My next-door neighbour was keen to hear the outcome as his own meter showed the same manifestations as ours - just a really miniscule amount of rotation of the centre dial, when apparently it should be completely static when no water is being drawn through the pipes beyond the meter. He has checked with the adjacent bungalow on the other side of him and the other side of my and it would appear that the two of us are the only ones with this problem, so he has asked me to make that known to my caller when he comes.
  I shall be making a note of my meter readings before and after any work is done in order to get some idea of any "lost" water that may become an issue later.
  We have been assigned a single point of contact to see this whole thing through with - which is good, as I have a list some half a dozen names long so far.
  More next week, I guess.
  Best regards - rollon65.
• Good post, bumping
• Hello once again Cardew,
  Appreciate your views here once more.
  Yes, indeed – it was my view that leaks on my property were down to me.
  On the insurance front; in the 42 years that we have lived at our address, we have previously had two water leakage incidents inside the bungalow that necessitated insurance claims.
  A minor pinprick of a leak back in 1981 looked like it had been going on for some considerable time and rendered the under-floor timbers and all the floorboards in need of replacement. Those were the days though – all that work for the then princely sum of Ј1,100!
  More recently, in May of 2012 the union between the lead (as in metal) water inlet piping and the inside copper work failed. This time it was picked up more quickly, but it had damaged the vinyl floor-covering and the carcass of a kitchen unit, as well as the floor boarding, so that was nearly another grand.
  We have only recently changed our insurer on the grounds that the previous appeared the be trying to get the outlay back by hiking our premiums very substantially, so I guess another water related claim wouldn't go down too well?
  Best regards - rollon65.
• Back again - apologies for absence,
  I have now had TWO visits to assess our situation - the second contradicted the first!
  The first was adamant that there was a leak between my stopcock and the water meter and that the water authority would detect and repair it for free.
  The second said that there was no leak between the stopcock and the meter and so the "creeping" of the meter must be down to a leak or unintentional wastage inside.
  Our water usage was interrogated and on that basis he reckoned we were using twice as much water as we should be.
  Checks were made on all cisterns first and he recommended that the ballcock arm on our main water tank should be bent down a bit to lower the level of the water which was nearing the overflow point.
  I had already checked that there was no dripping from the outlet - and there never has been, so the issue re the arm wouldn't have lead to any excessive water consumption.
  He then commented on the length of piping between the tank and the hot water outlets, that might lead us to run wasteful amounts of cold water before the hot came through. Possible: but the pipes within the roof space where the tank for my condensing boiler lives, are heavily lagged - granted, thereafter they are not.
  He then switched tack to the meter and suggested that it might just be worth asking for it to be replaced.
  I asked to be called back about that, but so far no telephone call.
  Meanwhile, we have trimmed our routine indoors to take into account the potentially water saving issues.
  So here we are - none the wiser, so far really.
  The scenario continues therefore, without any resolution.
  Regards -rollon65
• This may not help but have you checked that your toilet is not dripping into the pan after flushing? My mum had nearly Ј200 credit on her account when she moved house and after replacing the bathroom the credit disappeared between moving in and the next bill - we could find no leak apart from a little trickle/drip into the toilet pan which was resolved by tightening a screw in the cistern.
• Hello All,
  Nothing really new to post at this time - my dedicated contact from the water board is away from her desk until 11 February and is slated to call me then.
  Reading some of the related current postings, I note that there are quite a few folk out there with similar situations; i.e. reasonable perceived usage and bills that appear to be far from reasonable.
  Whilst this offers us some small comfort, getting to the crux of why the bills are high seems like a task similar to pinning the tail on the donkey!
  I really don't know what to do on our own behalf now, as I doubt whether your average plumber would have the kind of kit to come up with a definitive answer that would solve the water over-consumption once and for all.
  I am just about to go out to my water meter, take a reading now and then without turning off my stopcock, and not use any water for at least three hours.
  I then propose to re-read the thing and see how the numbers sit after the interval.
  I have been acquainted with the possibilty of overflows that occur in the night, on the basis that during that time no water is drawn off, so that might be my next move, to turn the water off all night. That will not be a lot of fun as there will be no hot radiators or bath water in the morning (or perhaps there will - not sure on that one?).
  Regards - rollon65.
• Hello All,
  I did the test that I have described in my previous posting.
  I set the hot water and heating controls on my boiler to off (just in case), left the stopcock open, waited 10 minutes, then read my water meter (taking a photograph, so as to record the exact position of all dials).
  After 4 hours without drawing any water, or flushing the loo, I then took
  a further photograph of my meter reading.
  You can see the type of meter that we have by using the attached link:
  https://arad.co.il/products/dialog-3g...og3g-register/
  After the 4 hours - if I understand the meter correctly, it showed some 6 litres of water consumption
  There is (as I interpret it) a "reel" of black numbers (like a car mileage recorder) that indicates cubic meters of water and one red number at the end that indicates 1/10 cu.m. (100's of litres), underneath which is a black/gold dial that shows 1/10th litres, to the right of that there is a black dial that shows 1 litre divisions and lastly to the very right there is a similar dial that also shows 10 litre divisions.
  I cannot account for the "used" 6 litres and any way, a leak (if there is one) on such a small scale is hardly going to account for the amount of consumption that is attributed to us.
  As a precaution against any unnecessary work and expense, I have asked about replacing the meter and found them willing to do that at no cost to ourselves, which is to be thoroughly applauded..
  Regards - rollon65.
• Hello All,
  Did the same test yesterday and recorded 6.5 litres of unidentified water movement.
  Have started looking under floors, cutting new traps in the least disruptive positions to avoid wrecking the floorcoverings. Dry bathroom and hall underfloor so far.
  It's not a lot of water that I'm looking for and cannot account for the consumption that we are being billed for, but back in the 1980's I discovered the smallest of leaks under the kitchen floor - about water pistol scale - that had been running for ages undetected and I had to have the entire floor, including joists replaced, so bad was the deterioration.
  Waiting for a call that's promised for Tuesday 11 February, to see what the water authority are making of things.
  Best regards - rollon65.
• If you need help with submitting your reading, watch our short how-to guide on finding and reading your water meter: