Water meter & excessive bill

[cpvh]

From a local FB group....

When Jane (name changed to protect the innocent)and I moved into Church House 3 ish years ago we found we were paying a huge 1/4 bill for water, we are on a meter. Having settled in we contacted Southern water and questioned it. We went through a process of "Do you have a water mill" "No" "Do you have a swimming pool" "No" "Do you have 10 children" "NO". Ok you have a leak ! I said Ok can you come and have a look. They said "Yes". But they never came, I contacted them weeks later and said "When are you coming" Their reply was aggressive and unnecessary "We are not coming the leak is on your property it's down to you" end of story. Well no, not quite. After saving up a lot of money for a local company (Excellent local company) to put a new water main in, we had it completed this weekend. Great ?? No ?? we have cut off our next door neighbours water supply. She had been paying water rates whilst her water had come through our meter. What leak ? I leave you to make your own conclusions. Southern Water ??!!??

[Brian Gaff]

Not the first time I've heard of this sort of c*ck up, I have to say. Of course nobody would have known until one site had a meter. The point now is who is going to pay the out of pocket expenses and compensation to the family overcharged. Who fitted the meter, who drew the plan for the original supply etc. Brian

[Tim+]

Hmm, the branch to the neighbour must have been *after* the meter so where did the new water main get connected? Unless the meter was resited as well of course.

A similar thing happened with my wife?s elderly aunt who had a meter installed but ended up paying excessive charges. Turned out the neighbours supply branched off well after the main entered her basement and the meter/stopcock was supplying both properties.

Tim

[tim...]

At the meter, which is usually co-located with the in-street stop-c*ck.

where else would you put it?

tim

[Theo]

On a related point, are the water pipe maps available publically anywhere?

I know there's lots of it that's uncertain - I heard that at privatisation some utilities junked all the paper records because they weren't a profit centre - but in the way that various planning/etc documents are online, is any water documentation?

Theo

[Andy Burns]

available to inspect at water co. offices, or to purchase an extract if you're considering a drinking water, sewerage or surface water connection.

They used to have copies at district council offices, but I was recently told they've stopped doing that as they were too old and out of date.

[Robin]

Not everyone has such a stop-tap. And in earlier years they often fitted them inside premises even when there was one.

I heard a surveyor of some seniority advise 40+ years ago "when you buy a house turn off the water where the main enters your property and check (a) you have no water from your taps and (b) your neighbours do from theirs."

[Chris Hogg]

You (by that I mean I) used to be able to access a map of water mains in my area on the SWW web site, but not anymore; you have to visit Head Office. They weren't very accurate anyway.

[Andrew]

Top posted for Brian from Andrew

But it's easy to check a water meter, just turn OFF your own internal stop c*ck, then find the meter and watch the little wheel on top. If it is moving at all, then water is going somewhere.

NEXT, turn your water OFF at the meter using the little plastic tool, and turn back ON the internal stopcock.

If your taps now work, the meter is cross c> Not the first time I've heard of this sort of c*ck up, I have to say. Of

[Andrew]

Southern water know where their water pipes are because they always include a map if they are asked to comment on a planning application that might affect their system.

[Peter Johnson]

Mine's in the downstairs cloakroom, readable from outside, and in my previous house it was in the kitchen.

[charles]

years ago I was working with an Elecrticity Board and a customer wanted to upgrade his supply. According to the maps he had none. A trace, in making a new copy of the map, had missed one tiny line.

[charles]

District councils used to look after sewage.

[tim...]

they may have a map that they think shows where the pipes are

But experience says that they are not always correct

tim

[tim...]

I think that it's clear from the OP's description, that she does

tim

[tim...]

Mine's in my hall cupboard

but that's because I don't have an outside one

but if you do, then that is where the water company would want to fit a meter

and in 99% of cases where one stop-c*ck disconnects two properties, it will be outside

tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

My stop tap is around 50 meters up the road.

[Steve Walker]

We had the opposite. We had a drain that kept blocking and eventually had to be dug up because the jetting company got their equipment stuck in it. I took the opportunity to replace the damaged section with plastic, only to find half-way through that next-door's kitchen drains down our drain, when they did the washing up. Fortunately their bathroom drains down a spearate one on the other side of their property!

SteveW

[Tim+]

That occurred to me after I posted. The only domestic water meter I?ve seen was in a basement.

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

Last property I rented had it under the sink near the mains stopcock