Southern Water ...metered bills.

[Pretty pink fairy]

We've just had our first report from Southern Water telling us what our 6 monthly bill is likely to be after our first 3 months on a meter. Over 45 % higher than we were paying. What have others found once they have gone over to meters ?

HA HA i got a £ 400 6 MONTHLY bill , got told i had a leak AND THAT I HAD TO SORT IT OUT, turns out the leak was at the meter took 8 months to sort it out, got a leakage allowance which brought the bill down to a normal usage, apart from that works ok for me
regards
DR

 

[Lord Bracknell]

HA HA i got a £ 400 6 MONTHLY bill , got told i had a leak AND THAT I HAD TO SORT IT OUT, turns out the leak was at the meter took 8 months to sort it out, got a leakage allowance which brought the bill down to a normal usage, apart from that works ok for me
regards
DR

I can show you a water bill for £25,657.01 if you want. Once South East Water finally agreed that it was their business to locate and find the (several) leaks, they pretty much wrote off most of it as a leakage allowance.

Incidentally, it costs £35.64 a year to insure the water supply pipe against damage. Well worth it in our case, since I don't fancy a repeat of the rather difficult correspondence with the water company about who should be responsible for paying a £25K bill.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

I can show you a water bill for £25,657.01 if you want. Once South East Water finally agreed that it was their business to locate and find the (several) leaks, they pretty much wrote off most of it as a leakage allowance.

Incidentally, it costs £35.64 a year to insure the water supply pipe against damage. Well worth it in our case, since I don't fancy a repeat of the rather difficult correspondence with the water company about who should be responsible for paying a £25K bill.

check out you building insurance cover regarding the water supply you may be entitled to claim on that to a point, Roedean school had a leak last year somewhere between the A259 and the school itself that was big money !!, they called in a company with a "special" machine to find it but hey presto they couldn't , they had to relay new pipe work from the mains on the A259 to the school, only what i was told by someone who works there
regards
DR

 

[Questions]

As a South East Water customer, can I ask a question?

Our water pipe has to cross three miles of field between the meter and the four houses it serves. We've just had a massive leak repaired and "normal" billing has resumed. In the first 64 days since the leak was fixed, the measured consumption for the four houses has been 223 cu metres. At £1.54 per cubic metre, plus standing charges of £3.50, the total bill has worked out at just over £1.35 per household per day. Or about £495 per year / £124 per quarter / £41 per month - per household.

How do these charges seem to NSC users with experience of water meters?

The four households are: two with two people living in them, one with one person, and one with a family of two adults and two young (primary school age) children.

We were just told that we have used 67m cu in 3 months. Or 549 litres a day. Estimate for year on those figures is £690.00 as opposed to our old rate of £350.00 a year.

 

[catfish]

My bill dropped by about 40% when I had a meter installed.

 

[ferring seagull]

Sorry if it has been stated before but one has to remember that water bill includes 'waste water' which is a major factor.

They charge you for the water supplie and then they charge you for disposal thereof irrespective of the fact that much of the water we pay for does NOT go back into the drains and therefore why should we be charged for it.

 

[phoenix]

Mine went up by fuckloads. I live alone.

My went down very slightly, but I am hardly ever at home (I live alone).

 

[Prettyboyshaw]

During the hose pipe ban and generally during the summer I take my hose pipe off the outside tap, get it up to the bathroom window, and water the garden by syphoning the kids bath water out each evening. Garden seems to love it.

Pikey!

 

[scarby]

Sorry if it has been stated before but one has to remember that water bill includes 'waste water' which is a major factor.

They charge you for the water supplie and then they charge you for disposal thereof irrespective of the fact that much of the water we pay for does NOT go back into the drains and therefore why should we be charged for it.

Water companies estimate that 90-95% of the water you of the water that comes into the house , goes out via the sewer.

Here in the Anglian region the metered charges are :-

£1.57 per cm3 for water entering the property

£30 standing charge per year.

£ 1.75 per cm3 for water exiting the property

£86 standing charge.

So basically if you didn't use any water at all you are charged £126 per year for the maintenance of sewers supply pipes etc.
Then £2.32 per cm3 from then on.

Water meters and water efficiency is my job and we do domestic and commercial ( hotels , business and schools) water efficiency audits so if anyone needs advice of some water saving devices pm with your questions.

i have devices for showers, taps, can convert your old handle flush wc's into dual flush, hippo bags, save a flush, shower timers , hose guns etc.

It's surprising how much can be saved with fitting a few devices, and a few hotels we have retro fitted devises have saved £1000's over the course of a year.

 

[scarby]

Avoid meters until you have to, we opted for one (great advice from some clown) and my monthly bill is now £72! You'd think I live in the Prince Regent!![/

Do you live in army barracks? How many people live in your house?

 

[sully]

Sorry if it has been stated before but one has to remember that water bill includes 'waste water' which is a major factor.

They charge you for the water supplie and then they charge you for disposal thereof irrespective of the fact that much of the water we pay for does NOT go back into the drains and therefore why should we be charged for it.

It depends who supplies your water. Southern Water do all the waste, but most of us have a different supplier of fresh water, so get two bills.

The calculation of percentage charged as waste is presumably worked out as a general average by some boffins somewhere. I'd be interested to know how they calculated it. You certainly don't pay for the same volume being taken away.

 

[Boys 9d]

My water saving tip especially for gardeners: When you turn on you hot tap, don't let the initial cold water go down the waste but collect it and use for watering the plants or topping up your swimming pool.

 

[scarby]

My water saving tip especially for gardeners: When you turn on you hot tap, don't let the initial cold water go down the waste but collect it and use for watering the plants or topping up your swimming pool.

Watertwo

For serious gardeners

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Southern Water do all the waste

If only. I do my own (and the neighbours'). A little sewage treatment plant at the end of the garden. All the filtered, treated waste water gets pumped out into a drainage ditch, then into Glynde Reach and the Ouse, to finish up in Newhaven. I've got a licence from the Environment Agency to do this. The solids get carted away in a truck and turned into beefburgers.

 

[beorhthelm]

They charge you for the water supplie and then they charge you for disposal thereof irrespective of the fact that much of the water we pay for does NOT go back into the drains and therefore why should we be charged for it.

interested where you think the water goes if not down your drains, and if not, why not?

 

[pauli cee]

If only. I do my own (and the neighbours'). A little sewage treatment plant at the end of the garden. All the filtered, treated waste water gets pumped out into a drainage ditch, then into Glynde Reach and the Ouse, to finish up in Newhaven. I've got a licence from the Environment Agency to do this. The solids get carted away in a truck and turned into beefburgers.

loving the beefburgers!!

 

[Windows]

My bill will go down from about £930/year (based on my rateable house value) to approx £740/year with the new meter that was installed 3 months ago.

There are 3 adults in the house, and I regularly take weekly meter readings from the meter which is in my front garden and keep an accurate record of weekly usage...I've been told it should be approx 1 unit per person per week (or 3 units per week in my case) but I seem to be averaging 5 units per week, so I'm above average.

 

[Cian]

Going on the prices here I am NOT looking forward to getting a meter installed this year. Currently pay €100 a year which is council tax and water charges (waste is and will remain free) but cause the economy is banjaxed its going to ~€220 a year council tax *and* a meter.

 

[albion534]

I was paying £12 a month with my partner before I moved out!

 

[ofco8]

Southern Water must be ripping me off rotten.
We have a meter imposed on us, which kicks in , in a month or so, and am really hoping the costs come down dramatically.
At present I am paying £85 a month with just two of us in the house now.!!!! It is only a two bedroom bungalow.