OT - That rateable value thing again.

[ben]

apparently this is in sole discretion of United Utilities and the local valuation office tell me that their system regards to this is outdated. United Utilities tell me that they are enforced to use the RV via the goverment, I say United Utilitys are telling porkies and are using this policy because they know that sod all can be done by the end user to change their rates if it's too high against a property of the same ilk further down the road.

Balls!

As far as i'm concerned they go on about having a meter installed but won't take it out after 13 months and therefore if the property is sold on then the new occupants still have pay their bill via the meter, this wrong and they should levy a charge of £15/20 to have the meter taken out and then payment should go back as umetered.

Why the hell should Joe public pay for waste water that runs down the council sewers when Joe public is already paying council taxes for this? house owners don't own the roads thats down to the council.

What a f**ked up country we live in.

Rant over, going to take a shower. :-)

[Mary Fisher]

So you'll be leaving us.

[Derek ^]

There exists only 2 basis for them to bill you on. The RV or via a water meter.

AIUI the RV was set yonks ago and you are out of time to appeal. :((

AFAIUI people who have meters installed usually benefit from lower bills. But I can see it would be a caution in the mind of a prospective purchaser.

Water rates were always a seperate item on the rates bill.

Notionally you are paying for treatment of the water at the sewage works. However it's not as simple as that. My small office has to pay water rates, but we have no water supply. ?-))

Hey, we should insist on a meter! But where would they put it ?

AAMOF in England the house owners usually *do* own the roads (or at least the land they sit on), out to the middle of the road in front of their house. Commonly the road and drains get "adopted" by the council once they meet the required standards, and the council then pay for their continued maintenance.

That's absolutely true, but have you by any chance been to Nigeria?

DG

[Scotty Tushy]

Not exactly. It's not at anyone's discretion per se. Water rate levels used to mirror domestic rates, which was calculated by the Valuation Office in ye olde times, but domestic rates ceased many years ago when the poll tax kicked in. Those values haven't been maintained since, as there is no longer any need for legislation to be in place to do so.

But this is not a Valuation Office issue any longer. This is an issue between the water utility companies, and the powers that be that allow them to use these old, defunct numbers as a stopgap until they can 'persuade' everyone to get a water meter, which from their point of view, is the ideal.

[ben]

Just for the hell of it I would get them to come out and fit a water meter and see what happens?

If you have not wash basin or toilet then your paying for the water that runs along the guttering and down the pipe.

Ridiculous in it.

[DJC]

which runs into a dranage system and has to be treated. you pay for disposal as well as supply.

[Bob Eager]

Some of us even pay different water companies for disposal and supply!

[Set Square]

There's a difference between the treatment requirements for foul and surface water, though. Under normal circumstances, your water rates pay for:

• supply of clean tap water

• removal of foul water (same volume as that of clean water supplied) to the treatment works

*removal of rain water into the nearest river (assuming separate foul and storm drains)

The office with no water supply should logically only have to pay for the third of these three items. Don't know whether it works like that in practice!

[Mary Fisher]

You use a bucket?

Mary

>