WaterHelp bills for unmetered single with low income

[Guest]

Talking about water leakages and other waste, it would be helpful to know what people pay for unmetered water annual bills eligible for discounts, particularly if single occupiers and on low income and / or receiving benefits.

Many thanks

[jenny pink]

I pay 40 Pound a month,single,council tenant in 1 bedroom & on benefits with no meter.................Jenny

[IlonaM]

If you're a single occupier and a water meter cannot be fitted (TW does a survey), make sure you are on the single occupier tariff. If you are on a low income with disability/chronic illness there may be other help available:

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/understand-your-bill/unmetered-customers

[Drxyster]

My wife and me have a two bedroom flat and our total bill for last year with a water meter was ?303.70, this equates to ?25.31 per month. I believe ?40.00 per month is much much higher than it should be.Your annual bill of ?480.00 per annum is extortionate. I would insist that you get Thames Water to install a meter.

[Sue]

I agree.

[ianr]

If you look at https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/water-meters/getting-a-water-meter you'll see plans for compulsory installation of meters anyway. So perhaps time to jump in now and get whatever benefit sooner?

They seem to have more flexible plans now for installing meters in difficult locations. I remember, last time I checked, that if they're not able to install one, you got charged at a notional use rate, that could, eg if you're a lone occupant, be lower than the current one. Does anyone have knowledge or experience of this still happening? At present they're non-committal about alternatives, and say in answer to the question about previous inability to install a meter just "When our smart meter programme reaches you, we?ll do a survey as normal and then let you know the next steps."

[RichH]

ianr Wrote:

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> Does anyone have knowledge or experience of this still happening?

Yes, I phoned Thames Water after seeing IlonaM's post above as I had no idea there was such a thing as a "single occupancy" tariff.

They told me that they only move people to this (or other, lower) tariff if a water meter is requested but they subsequently find that one can't be installed. So, I have an engineer booked in for the end of the month and I should end up with either a water meter or a lower tariff than my current one.

[ianr]

Thanks. Please do let us know which, and any provided whys or wherefores of their decision..

[Guest]

Many thanks for the responses. I think it would be absolutely useful to know more about various situations because the responses we had here so far confirm my suspect that there is a great margin for... improvements.

I say here what is my experience. I have recently required to review my bill for the 5th or 6th time. That should be around 235 / 240? per year. The first bill TW sent me was in excess of 600?.

True that there is a "thames water's household charges scheme" updated every year under section 143 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (as amended). The tariffs should therefore be clearly set and made very comprehensible to everybody. Also terms of payments are detailed in writing.

However, what is set in the terms and conditions does not correspond to the behaviour of the company and it is very hard to predict what one's bill could be.

Two single renters of similar 1 bedroom flats can pay appallingly different bills. Why?

The first reason of paying very different bills in London and in the whole of the regions (Thames Valley) served by the company I reckon comes from the fact that in some areas they charge you only for water and in others only for wastewater whereas in many of the London Boroughs they charge you for both. But in some Outer London Boroughs - for instance Sutton is Outer London - the bills can be significantly different.

Metered / unmetered / assessed household charges are calculated theoretically in a standard way but, once again, the type of property and the number of occupiers makes a huge difference in the final bill.

Singles should pay less for sure in case there is no meter.

Another distinction is, in case you have metered water, if you receive benefits or have certain medical conditions or not: in this cases you may qualify for a scheme they call WaterSure.

But there is another scheme for help you with a reduction of 50% of your bill that is called WaterHelp and it applies either if you have or have not a meter on grounds of low income with qualifying criteria being "a gross household income (including benefits but excluding disability benefits) of less than ?16,385 or less than ?19,747 if your property is within a London Borough (the ?income threshold?)".

On top of all these variables, there are a number of "adjustments" the company can apply to your bill and various allowances such as the leakage allowance, sometimes automatically and sometimes only if you explicitly call and claim the discount or allowance.

As far as I can see the company has an aggressive way of collecting all possible moneys from all types of occupiers who live in a property, even for short term tenancies and even if you qualify for WaterHelp.

TW reserves the right to "back-bill" you if previous occupiers have not paid their bills or they think that they can raise some money all the same but they do not detail such costs in the bill.

In my case, I live in a block of flats where there are no meters: the freeholders and leaseholders of the flats are liable for water charges but I have agreed in my tenancy agreement with my direct landlord to pay water bills. TW tried at first to make me pay for past unpaid bills they have not received payments for by neither other landlords nor previous tenants. I have rejected this request. They have accepted they have to bill me applying the WaterHelp Scheme but, surprise surprise, they have decided to apply the WaterHelp scheme from the day in which they have decided I was eligible for it and not from the day in which I came to live in the property and I have been paying council tax for / that means there is a certain date from which I am liable for water costs.

So all in all I think the more people say what their bills are in public the more chances we have to pay the right tariff.

[Jenijenjen]

Thanks spoiled talent, that?s really useful. For those interested in pursuing, here is the link to the relevant page on Thames Water?s website https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/financial-support/waterhelp

The threshold for household income is higher than for claiming government benefits and would benefit single occupiers on a low income.

As a by the by, I wonder if the poster who is paying ?40 pm for a one bedroom flat is making 8 monthly payments per annum rather than 12 which would bring the annual bill down to ?320? Still too much though.