Help. How do I challenge an excessive water bill?

We had this too end of last year, our water usage went from 240 ltrs to 540ltrs in three months , and there are only the two of us , we questioned this through United Utilities who agreed it did seem excessive, We have a water meter. The engineers came, dug up the path outside our property and found a leak, we had it fixed and the nice lady in the office also refunded £130 ,

Having previously lived in a new build house with a water meter we had a water meter fitted soon after moving to this house as the rates were quite high. We saved money even with 4 people living here. Now I'm on my own I must be saving a fortune, though I expect my bills will be higher from now on as I retired recently. If you don't already have a meter it is probably worthwhile looking into getting one. The only time I ever got a huge bill the meter had been read incorrectly. It is fitted in the pavement on the edge of the property, so not the easiest thing to read, but I managed it with a little difficulty and the company adjusted the bill when I told them.

Dear Kathsue,

Water must also have an Ombudsman, and I would Google to sort this out. My water bill has gone down drastically since I finished working, as my income reduced so did my water bill so I only pay just over £4.00 now.

We have a water meter. Only two of us. We pay £30 a month and don’t scrimp using the water. The washing machine and dishwasher are used every day plus two showers every day. Don’t know if this is a lot or not.

If you've got a smart home with Alexa, Google or Hive, you can get a gadget to put on your pipe near where the water comes into the house and it will alert you if there is water running when there shouldn't be. We had one of these (even though we are not on metered water) and we couldn't find the running water anywhere. We actually turned the sensor off thinking it was faulty. It was only when I went to change the bamboo flooring in the bathroom, we realised it was black underneath. When we checked, there was a leak in the pipe going to the bath but we couldn't see any water because it wasn't coming higher than the wooden floor.
Although the sensor is about £65, it will more than pay for itself if you are on metered water.
I have posted a link below but you can get them in lots of places and I don't know if I have posted the cheapest one. Lots of people giving them bad reviews haven't actually given it time to build up a pattern of your water usage which is part of the process of identifying unfamiliar patterns. I have no affiliation with the company linked and don't get paid for this information. I just though it might be useful.

www.screwfix.com/p/hive-leak-sensor/161fv

Thank you all for your replies. It's good to know I'm not the only one to have this problem.

The very helpful lady at Southwest Water put a hold on the bill and said they would only charge me for an average amount of water usage. She talked me through the actions I should take next.

The meter is turning when I'm not using any water which indicates a leak. I don't have an internal stop-cock and I've listened to the toilets, taps etc but can't hear anything.

I contacted HomeServe who are sending someone to (hopefully) fix the leak. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for now.

Best of luck, kathsue. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago. When I queried the bill I was told that it would appear that my meter was faulty. I said ‘that’s not my problem as I don’t ‘own’ the meter’. I was asked to check if it was working when I was using water. I refused as I was not going to be grovelling on the ground in my mid-seventies. I was told they couldn’t replace the meter for at least 2 months. In the meantime I had to pay the bill. I got nowhere regardless of the number of phone calls, letters and e-mails I sent. You have no come back, as you can’t change supplier.

Ours went almost double when moved (over 8yrs ago) from an 'old street' 3bed house (even though we had a bath/shower in) to a 3bed house with only walk- in shower- on a credit pay half yearly bill- how could charge be almost double? So i asked for a water meter.A good move as through day i was only one in- so not much water use at all- used more when 2 sons came home after (then) school,Now older so then college/uni) especially as one is OCD & always washing or showering.Huge difference.But with us mostly been inside all 3together for most of a year, it crept up again.So back on watersure now.(they can put you on it but can let you come off it if you are not using enough for it to be cost effective for you) But even so even folk not eligible for that can still save loads with a water meter,especially if only one or no people in house all day.

Yes Greengran, but with water bills they have us over a barrel- as theres one locally governed water supplier‐ thames water, or yorkshire water or united utilities etc. We cant pick& choose for that like we can with gas & electric.Which should be changed i think.?

We've had problems with the drains in our back garden, and called out Thanes water who sorted it . We didn't have to pay because next doors drains are shared with ours, result!

Also theres a water cap charge if you're eligible for 'watersure' -theres certain rules, but if you have certain medical reasons for using more water for example (skin conditions, or applying creams so must shower often, or OCD(& therefore washing/showering a lot) or having to bathe for arthritis/physio reasons etc, - well theres a few, but you get the gyst- if you have, ask them to put you on that.

I live on my own and my water bill is about £260/6months

Before doing anything else, check that none of your taps are dripping and that all ball cocks are functioning properly.

Then sit down and think. Are you washing clothes, washing up more than previously? Did you use tap water to water the garden last summer, or a hosepipe for cleaning the car.

Have you done any decorating that involved extra use of water in the past year?

Once you are sure that none of your taps or appliances are using too much water, phone the company and say pleasantly that you are at a loss to understand the increased use of water, as you haven't any new appliances and as far as you know any leaks or dripping taps. Ask them if they can check whether the meter is reading accurately.

I hope you get it sorted out.

We are in a council property and some years ago they decided to unilaterally add our water to the rent (we don't use as much as my MIL living alone, still with reasonable water charges, and our rent increased by an inordinately huge amount. We fought the housing authority and requested a meter (several years later still not supplied!) which we suspect will show a huge overcharge. So get your water board to check the accuracy and even if it is correct, don't be bullied into paying more than you can genuinely afford. You will, of course, have to pay eventually but you can make a fair and reasonable offer. Good luck.

Thank you, GreenGran78, never thought about it, been here 17 years, my daughter was 10 at the time, so obviously been using less the last 7 years.

Helgawills Why on earth don’t you have a water meter fitted? Your bills will almost certainly plummet, as there are only two of you living there. They give you a year’s trial, then you can have it disconnected if you’re not happy with it. A win-win situation.
I used to help out in our local newsagents, who had bill-paying facilities. Whenever elderly people came in with big water bills to pay I used to ask them how many lived in the house. It was usually just them alone, or as a couple. They often didn’t understand about water meters, and many got them fitted once they knew how easy it was. I was often thanked for saving them £100s of pounds over the year.
Sadly, there are also many elderly people paying high utility bills because they stay with the same provider for many years.

Kathsue I’ve just seen this. We are in the same situation as you.

In Spring 2019 we called up our water board and told them we had low water pressure. A lady came out and said she thought our pipe was silted up but didn’t detect a leak.

On Monday of this week the board phoned telling us that we had used £1400 worth of water in 6 months which was clearly wrong as there are only 2 of us living in the property. It would have been nice to have been told sooner. Next day a man arrived and told us we were losing 3 litres of water every minute but he could not detect where the leak was. If it’s on “our” side we are liable to fix the leak which may involve digging through our dining room into our kitchen at a cost of thousands. Luckily in this worst case scenario our housing insurance will cover us. Another board worker is coming on Monday.

To add insult to injury, this morning we have been sent a water bill for £1700 payable TODAY. They said they would put the bill on hold while they investigated. Some elderly people would have probably had a heart attack on receiving a letter like this. We won’t pay anything until we have a clearer idea of what is going on.

I urge you to check your insurance policy. Good luck.

I have just gone through a 6 months period of water leaks, the first one from the overflow on my tank, the second the upstairs toilet and the third the downstairs toilet. I have a contract with home serve who fixed them all I kept a log and the water board then check my usual usage back for the past 12months. Gave me refund in line with my usual usage. it came to over £ 300 refund. I was thrilled. The waterboard and home serve were absolutely brilliant as I was naturally worried about the enormous bill, and kept re-assuring me I would not have to foot the bill. I was amazed at the waterboard they had 4 different people phoning me and explaining every step and detail. brilliant service. I am very hard of hearing and cannot hear water running even with aids in, I did not think they would believe, but was pleasantly surprised. Hope you receive the same service kathsue

We also had this earlier in the year. We were locked down in Greece and couldn’t get back for three months, so knew that nobody was using the water! They sent a letter saying we were using more water than normal! Apparently there was a leak that stopped and started again......nearly £1000 of water. It took us months to sort out, as we pointed out, a leak of that size would have been noticeable! After three months of checks, we eventually got them to change the meter . Although they insisted that this could not be faulty, the problem desisted. To be fair, they did not charge us for the unexplained leak.

If the leak is on your property you will have to pay for it unless it is included on your house insurance. If the leak is outside the Water Board should pay.

Do not wait. Ring your Water Authority right now as if the fault is on your side it will cost you. They will tell you to turn off the stopcock and then see if the water meter is still running. If it is you have a leak and are responsible to get it fixed pdq. If the leak is your fault they will not make you pay the larger than expected bill all at once but will allow you to pay by instalments.

Oldbat1

We had this. Water company reduced our bill after we found our downstairs toilet was to blame! It was continuously filling the cistern but we couldn’t hear it doing so. I was surprised how much water was wasted through this leak.

Same thing happened to me. My monthly bill increased by 50% for no apparent reason. Then one day I noticed a very faint hissing sound coming from the downstairs toilet. Got the plumber to check it and he put on the light, lifted the toilet lid and told me to look in the bowl at the water, there was a very slight shimmer on the surface which was due to the flush not cutting off. It had been going on for at least a year and that’s why my bill had increased. Once it was fixed the bill dropped back to normal.

I live in a block of flats. In our courtyard there are a number of drain covers. A few feet from my bedroom one started leaking and masses of water soon covered our courtyard. I reported this to South West Water and so did a number of other residents. We expected SWW to be alarmed at the amount of water - theirs - going to waste. Not a bit of it! They did not care and would not do anything about it. Why not? Because they said that although the water was theirs the pipes are not theirs. They are private pipes so not their responsibility. There are a number of elderly residents who could slip if the huge puddle ices over. Some residents have lost water pressure. This morning SWW rang up to confirm that they would not be fixing it and they would sue us if we did not get it fixed within 30 days... the problem is that the actual land does not belong to the block of flats, but only to one old lady who lives the other side of England and wont be bothered by it, and furthermore she wont want to pay.
However another resident called a plumber and the work is now being done. I wonder how much it will cost us.

My sister lives nearby in a similar house to mine and is not on a water meter. She pays £55 per month. I am on a water meter and pay £22 a month. We both live alone so our circumstances are very similar and I don't worry about how much I use. I would be just a careful not to waste such a vital resource whether I had a meter or not.

I agree Calandergirl, all properties should have water meters. I know of people without water meters who leave the taps running when washing vegetables, cleaning teeth etc. Water is very precious and shouldn’t be wasted.

Kathsue I hope your problem is soon sorted out and your high water bill is reduced drastically.

Move to Scotland . water rates are included in our rates package paid to the local authority.