Water meter woes you’ll find shocking.

[Milzy]

I’ve been paying £75 a month because they won’t read the water meter. Even though a year ago they looked down but nothing was recorded. Then they said they can’t because of a conifer even though OCD guy next door keeps it trimmed back.
So I went down with my Exposure 900 bike light to see what the fuss is all about. Easily got access but there’s nothing to actually read. They must have some kind of electronic device that sends them data. The water company must owe us a few hundred £ back. I suppose a letter of complaint is now needed.
🤦‍♂️

 

[Drago]

They water company fitted one at my request some years back. In their infinite wisdom the fitted it under a hedge and the readers claim they can't read it.

Well, I can manage it just fine with only minor grunting and cussing but the water company is insistent their readers can't. Fine, so within the cooling off period I opted to stay on the dirt-chrap water rates and told them to shove it up their arriss.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Don't get me started on that shower of shoot. Over 10 years and they are still no nearer resolving a meter issue I've been involved with for a relative.

It's cost them a fortune in compensation, largely because they are so dysfunctional, with Departments not communicating, and dealing with different people every single time we make contact.

It could have been resolved a decade ago, and that would have been at my expense, which I was more than willing to pay, even though it was their cock up, because the ramifications were obvious.

They had six separate bills recently, all on the same day, none followed on from the other, and none related to the actual amount of water used. From memory I think they were trying to claim they were owed £75,000, which their own records and simple common sense show is nonsense. My relative simply ignored them, and there has been nothing more said.

The stories that the workers that visited told show that this is far from an isolated situation, and the waste of water across the regions as well as finances makes my head spin.

 

[Speicher]

They water company fitted one at my request some years back. In their infinite wisdom the fitted it under a hedge and the readers claim they can't read it.

Well, I can manage it just fine with only minor grunting and cussing but the water company is insistent their readers can't. Fine, so within the cooling off period I opted to stay on the dirt-chrap water rates and told them to shove it up their arriss.

Or faucet up their arriss.

 

[fossyant]

Saved my MIL a fortune when we got a meter fitted for her (in the pavement) as she was paying 'rates' on a four bed house. Our bill has almost halved since the lockdown (when it doubled). I checked the estimated bill earlier this year and it was within 1 cubic metre of the actual reading - it's since been read (under the sink).

 

[cyberknight]

Luckily for me I'm still in rates as having 2 kids I would need a second mortgage, well a third as someone keeps leaving all the Ruddy lights on all night

 

[potsy]

I'm just in the process of getting one fitted, not the thread I wanted to see!!
My water rates seem very high to me at £55 per month which is why I've opted for a meter, and with 2 years to change my mind it seemed a no-brainer.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Saved my MIL a fortune when we got a meter fitted for her (in the pavement) as she was paying 'rates' on a four bed house. Our bill has almost halved since the lockdown (when it doubled). I checked the estimated bill earlier this year and it was within 1 cubic metre of the actual reading - it's since been read (under the sink).

Under the sink? Luxury.

Their meter isn't even in the same street yet the neighbours meters all are, and the supply from it runs through 5 other properties, crossing the supply pipes of each of those homes, before feeding a house the opposite side of my relative to the meter. That house had about 8 or nine people living in it, with no meter of their own, and then the pipe turns back to my relatives house.

I offered to stand the cost of having the pipework and meter moved to be at their gate, which would be within a foot or two of the neighbours meter. Apparently that's not possible, although nobody has really explained why not.

According to their records, they've repaired leaks in various gardens where there aren't even any pipes.

 

[fossyant]

I'm just in the process of getting one fitted, not the thread I wanted to see!!
My water rates seem very high to me at £55 per month which is why I've opted for a meter, and with 2 years to change my mind it seemed a no-brainer.

That's high, I pay £45, family of 4 adults, with at least one or two people in the house all day, and with my bike/car washing habits !

 

[Milzy]

That's high, I pay £45, family of 4 adults, with at least one or two people in the house all day, and with my bike/car washing habits !

I have estimated we should be on £40 to £45.

 

[potsy]

That's high, I pay £45, family of 4 adults, with at least one or two people in the house all day, and with my bike/car washing habits !

Exactly, other people I've spoken to pay less too, my water usage is quite low so hoping I'll save a fair bit.

 

[fossyant]

Exactly, other people I've spoken to pay less too, my water usage is quite low so hoping I'll save a fair bit.

You'll save a fortune - you don't wash your bikes as much as I do !

 

[cougie uk]

That's high, I pay £45, family of 4 adults, with at least one or two people in the house all day, and with my bike/car washing habits !

Blimey. On a meter we pay £36 for the two of us.

 

[fossyant]

Blimey. On a meter we pay £36 for the two of us.

I better check - sorry £34.30 for my bike washing OCD !

 

[Sharky]

We shouldn't grumble. My daughter, when she was at Uni, brought a fellow student to stay with us for a weekend. Her home country was one of those hot countries, Saudi, Kuwait etc. When offered a drink of water, she just couldn't believe how you could get drinking water on tap.