I've never understood rates to be honest. I am charged £15/month for water, which seems very cheap. There is a meter in the road but I've never been asked to check it, nor seen anyone checking it. So I guess I'm on rates, at the lower end because we use so little?? However, my parnter's property is charged £180/month. They said some crap about "becasue there was a pond, it's to do with your water run-off". Even though the pond is long-gone, and she never had to fill it so there were no leaks. I've been trying to get her to argue it for years but she has given up.