Southern water woes.

A question about : Southern water woes.

Good afternoon, just looking for some advice as to how I can move forward with trying to get my bill with southern water sorted. We had a water meter fitted around March 2014 when southern water said everyone now has to be on a metered supply in East Kent.

When first installed we were told our water cost would be around 2/3 of the fixed tarrif cost as there are only two adults in the property (Dad and myself) we are now in debt with southern water because the bill is so high. the first 3 quarterly bill was for 49m3 and the second quarterly bill is for 68m3 and we are being told we have a usage of around 420 litres a day.

I do not believe this is possible, water usage is as follows.

2 x 5 minute showers per week (1 each) no bath.
toilet flush perhaps 4 or 5 times a day (let the yellow mellow)
Tea around 8 cups a day between us and I also drink bottled water as I do not like the taste of the tap water alone.

No hosepipe connected to mains, we have 2 water butts one gets fed from rain water off the property the other gets filled from kitchen sink and shower waste both of these are used in the garden.

A chap came out and done a leak test on the meter by turning off the internal stopvalve and then left saying the meter was leak free however it seemed fast when running the water and he would advise that the meter should be calibrated/tested further or replaced, Southern water want us to pay them Ј70 or Ј100 (can't remember which) to get the meter indendantly tested however I cannot afford to do this.

Would anyone have any advice on how we can try to get this resolved as we are now in a stalemate with southern water.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

Best answers:

• Have you tried reading the meter yourself (ideally daily) to check what & when you are using it - waiting until the meter reader comes is too late, you've already used it and got to pay for it.
  Do a few checks, showers, especially power showers can use ridiculous amounts. A couple of weeks should give you a good idea of what you are using.
  Make sure you don't have any overflowing cisterns or leaking flush valves in the toilet. The latest lo-flush valves are notorious for leaking gently into the bowl without you noticing.
  keeping a record gives you some ammunition to challenge the water company to check the meter.
  On average a two person household would use about 110 cu.m a year, we use about 65cu.m. We are at home all day, use a washing machine, dishwasher, shower more often than you and we wash the cars & caravan and have an automatic garden watering system for the summer months.
• Hiya Matelodave Thanks for the reply, I'll start keeping a diary of daily usage based on the meter reading. We don't have a power shower it just runs off of the combi-boiler, no dishwasher etc... toilet cistern is an older style one with the float valve adjusted to the lowest water level possible having about 6" of water in the cistern.
  I have just spoken with southern water again and they are saying they are now going to send an engineer out again to test the meter to see if it is spinning with the mains turned off, this will be the second time they have done this, they also said they will check to see if our meter is also feeding one of the neighbours.
  A friend who is a plumber has sent me a link to a small water meter for use in flats, it's Ј15 is it worth fitting one of these and comparing it to southern waters meter?
• Fitting your own meter would give you something to compare the main meter with and you'd get an idea if there was a large discrepancy between the two but the water company won't regard it as a valid meter for billing purposes.
  As a start, read your meter and then turn off the main stopcock in the house overnight - the meter should not change at all. If it does then there's either a leak or someone else is using it as well as you.
  Next, turn on your main stopcock and ensure that no taps or anything else is turned on, don't even flush the toilet, check after three or four hours to make sure that the meter hasn't moved.
  Those check should satisfy you that there aren't any leaks on your side of the meter.
  A rough check to see if the meter is registering properly is to fill a bucket or two - 10 litres each to see if the meter moves by the same amount - most meters are readable to a litre (0.001 cu.m)
• As said above, the cistern leaking silently into the bowl is fairly common. It is worth noting that it can leak after a flush but then possibly not after another flush.
  Again as said above, the meters are readable down to a litre(the red numbers) and a couple of buckets/containers of a known capacity should indicate if the meter is inaccurate. Apparently these meters very rarely go wrong.
• My parents asked Southern Water to fit a meter - which they duly did. Unfortunately they fitted it to the next door water supply. My Dad noticed immediately, and after initially denying that their engineers could possibly do such a thing (over the phone without checking anything) they came and moved it. It may be worth checking - don't assume a basic level of competence!
• Turn off your internal stop & ask your neighbours in turn to flush the toilet & watch your meter. If it moves it's likely serving their property well as yours!