Water Meter Increase

A question about : Water Meter Increase

My house is a 3 bedroom terraced house in Southampton and there are 2 of us who live there. We used to have a fixed yearly fee of about Ј200. The water company gave us no choice to have a water meter fitted, and to our horror, the annual water bill is now over double at about Ј450 p/a. We live near the centre of Southampton, in a non-affluent area. When I phoned the water company they said our area has a high tarriff for water.

How can this be right? I have friends close by who's water meter is a lot less than ours. I thought water meters were supposed to be cheaper for 2 peeople living together? Also, how can it be fair that water can be charged at different rates? Water is water isn't it whichever tap it comes out of?!

Best answers:

• Before you had a meter your charges were based on your Rateable Value(RV). Bear in mind that the RV was assessed as far back as 1973 and if you only paid Ј200 a year the house must have had a very low RV.
  Metered charges for every cubic metre are exactly the same for all houses as long as you live in the same area.
  Two people living together should on average use 110 cubic metres pa. If your bill is Ј450 I suspect you are using more than that.
  You are quite right that it isn't fair ' that water can be charged at different rates' ; everyone should be metered so you pay for what you use.
  If you post details of both bills we can perhaps explain the charges.