Water And Sewage Charges ?

[marsh man]

We hear a lot about council tax charges and a 25% discount if you are the only person in the household but we don't seem to hear much about water and sewage charges .

Well I have just got my water bill in from Essex and Suffolk Water , the bill is now combined to cover the water used and the sewage charges , my new bill for the coming year is £1,759.20 , that is one person in a two bedroom bungalow , would you think this is about right , below average , or above . 

[oowee]

10 minutes ago, marsh man said:

We hear a lot about council tax charges and a 25% discount if you are the only person in the household but we don't seem to hear much about water and sewage charges .

Well I have just got my water bill in from Essex and Suffolk Water , the bill is now combined to cover the water used and the sewage charges , my new bill for the coming year is £1,759.20 , that is one person in a two bedroom bungalow , would you think this is about right , below average , or above . 

How much??????? That can't be right?????

I pay £17 a month £204 a year. I only pay for supply (half the normal cost) as we have no sewer. We are on a meter and water is I think £6 a cube. 

Edited September 8 by oowee

[marsh man]

It certainly is right oowee

[oowee]

That's outrageous. I am about to move house and have discounted water as inconsequential. I better check. 

Have you checked with neighbours? I run a pool and sprinklers on the lawns.here so use plenty. 

Looking on line the average water bill is £245 for your area in 2023

Edited September 8 by oowee

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, Any water meter ?? If no get one put in ASAP, My Son was in the same position, after a meter fitted his bill dropped by 2/3 rds 

Edited September 8 by oldypigeonpopper

[ditchman]

something not right there......

[marsh man]

4 minutes ago, oowee said:

That's outrageous. I am about to move house and have discounted water as inconsequential. I better check. 

Have you checked with neighbours? I run a pool and sprinklers on the lawns.here so use plenty. 

 

1 minute ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, Any water meter ??

They read my meter every so often , how things are going , we will be weary in putting the heating on and now running the tap and flushing the toilet , we used to get two bills , one for water and the other one for the sewage charge , now they are combined , last year it was just over £1500 , so it's gone up just over  £200 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, OK on the meter, so has that been an estimated bill, ??, There is something wrong some where, 

[Cosmicblue]

That doesn't sound right Marsh Man, needs a phone call the query that charge.

I'm in Warwick and come under Severn Trent - 4 bed house, 2 people on a water meter, baths every day, watering the garden daily with a hosepipe in the summer, car washing, dishwasher etc £490 a year for a combined bill.

Looking at Anglian Water's web site pulls up this:  https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/services/extra-support/essex-and-suffolk-bill-changes/ 

Looks like they have a track-record of overcharging too:

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/thousands-anglian-water-customers-essex-8990857

 

 

[shaun4860]

I pay £18/month for water/sewage.

Ingle living in 2 bed terraced house.

I have a water meter 

[JKD]

Have you or the water company checked for any leaks your side of the meter ?

You can check easily enough by making sure no mains water is running in your house/bungalow, then check the meter for any 'flow'. If the meter is still moving, there is a leak somewhere. This can be monitored to measure how much is 'going to waste', and your bill should be adjusted accordingly.

[TOPGUN749]

I see you’re on a water meter! That usage is ridiculous,you should get it investigated for leaks etc. Have you read the meter yourself? Are the figures correct? I once had a big bill that I challenged and it turned out they had either read the wrong meter or read it wrong.

I live alone in a 2 bed house,my total standing charges are £152 a year, and water and sewerage charges are £85 a year.( I use on average 25 units a year) I pay £20 a month direct debit.If that meter was correct you are using 13x as much water as myself!! Without either a huge leak or meter error you can’t possibly be using 195 gallons a day! Should be around 18 gallons or less.

Makes me wonder if your meter is feeding a few other properties,but unlikely.Read your meter including the red figures,then don’t use a drop of water for a few hours at least,then read it again,obviously if the numbers change you have a leak somewhere! Your usage is equivalent to 8 gallons every hour 24/7.

Your bill shows 96 units water used but 325 units or sewerage water,those figures should be similar! Mine is 25 units water,with 23 units going to sewerage.

Edited September 9 by TOPGUN749

[Luckyshot]

Agree with everyone above, go to be something wrong with your water supply. I live alone 1 bedroom bungalow on a water meter.

 

 

[mellors]

Blimey that's over £30 a week.

2 of us paying £342 a year here sewage and water. 

No way that's right. 

345 cm/3 cubic mtrs sewage charge for 142 days no way unless your paying for public toilets nxt door. 

I'd be on the phone first thing this morning and ask for a refund for last year as well. 

[stockybasher]

Got a 5-bed house, £466 this year.

[McSpredder]

National average water use per person is said to be in the region of 140 litres/day (= 51 cubic metres/year).

Is there a very large garden involved?   Hosepipes can a lot of water, and the Northumbrian Water website calculator uses a figure of 16 litres/minute for a garden hose (almost 1 cubic metre/hour). 

[johnphilip]

Looking at all these charges I find my self very lucky .

I rent my cottage on a farm .I don't pay water and sewage  costs .

We are on a soak away , and all fresh water comes of the farm supply 

 Hope MM gets sorted .

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, As JKD mentioned , have you check for any water leaks ?  That is if your meter is on the property boundary,?? A leak in the service pipe is not uncommon and quite easy to check if your meter is say in the footpath. have you looked in the meter chamber ? saying this if your meter is in the property like both my Sons then something else is amiss, I spent years  fixing leaks on TWA, I use to fix leaks 1 mtr past the meter chamber , then was owners problem although quite often help sort it save getting a rip off plumber , It is very easy to check for leaks between meter and property if a short run,

Edited September 9 by oldypigeonpopper

[TOPGUN749]

10 hours ago, marsh man said:

It certainly is right 

 

10 hours ago, marsh man said:

It certainly is right oowee

I can’t see the top figures in the bill, but don’t think they add up to £1759, maybe £935? But it doesn’t make any sense anyway, should be about £935? Doesn’t make any sense anyway a bill for 142 days should be about £90-£100 on one person’s usage.

Edited September 9 by TOPGUN749
Error

[dainty duck]

£31 per month here , water meter fitted .

[marsh man]

46 minutes ago, TOPGUN749 said:

 

I can’t see the top figures in the bill, but don’t think they add up to £1759, maybe £935? But it doesn’t make any sense anyway, should be about £935? Doesn’t make any sense anyway a bill for 142 days should be about £90-£100 on one person’s usage.

Morning Topgun .... All these readings and figures are not my strong point but from the 28th of September my monthly bill will be £258 , below is the readings that came with the bill .

[mellors]

7 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Morning Topgun .... All these readings and figures are not my strong point but from the 28th of September my monthly bill will be £258 , below is the readings that came with the bill .

Hi. 

Definitely some serious water usage there the sewage charge relates to the amount of water used so you've either got a big leak or a faulty water meter. 

Phone them this morning. 

 

 

[TOPGUN749]

18 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Morning Topgun .... All these readings and figures are not my strong point but from the 28th of September my monthly bill will be £258 , below is the readings that came with the bill .

Goodmorning Marsh Man,thanks for showing the bill in full, actually I now see that they claim you have used 468 cubic metres of water in 6 months! Staggering,(like 30 baths full every day) and clearly a massive leak or error of some kind! As a comparison I use 13 cubic metres in that time.

If possible take a reading yourself and without using a drop for a few hours read it again,if the reading changes something is wrong,either faulty meter,a big leak somewhere,or the meter is feeding other properties too. I don’t know how long this has been going on,but if you have paid these kind of bills you could be owed a lot of refunds amounting to thousands!

 

Edited September 9 by TOPGUN749

[marsh man]

1 minute ago, TOPGUN749 said:

Goodmorning Marsh Man,thanks for showing the bill in full, actually I now see that they claim you have used 468 cubic metres of water in 6 months! Staggering,and clearly a massive leak or error of some kind! As a comparison I use 13 cubic metres in that time.

If possible take a reading yourself and without using a drop for a few hours read it again,if the reading changes something is wrong,either faulty meter,a big leak somewhere,or the meter is feeding other properties too. I don’t know how long this has been going on,but if you have paid these kind of bills you could be owed a lot of refunds amounting to thousands!

 

Hi Many THANKS for your fast response , I have now been here for seven years , this is the first year I have had a combined bill , the previous years were two bills , one for water and the other one for sewage , I don't use tap water for my garden , haven't used the dish washer since my wife passed away , washing machine on average once a week and bath once or twice a week depending on the weather and then normal usage with the taps for washing the crockery and tea ect .

I have rung them up and now waiting for the return call rather than waiting in the phone q .

[TOPGUN749]

Good luck in getting it sorted out,regardless of whether water and sewerage is combined or separate something is vastly wrong,and sounds like you use about same as myself,£20 a month direct debit for 25 cubic metres a year! Read your meter yourself as I said if possible,with everything turned off you should see no movement of the numbers.