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Original poster

Need help with huge water bill

21 replies

WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 18:44

I need to help my sister and she won't listen, so wondered if anyone had any ideas?

She is on a water meter and her bill went from £14 per month, to over £3.5k for three months. She said the last meter reading was in January so she reckons it will be over £6000 now.

It turns out she has a leak under the garage. It has been sorted, fine.

She cannot afford to pay it. She's been on self-employed grants since lockdown, with only small amounts of work. She was claiming working tax credits as low income single person (her DC is over 18, so no CTC). She doesn't claim this anymore (afaik) as her partner has started work.

I've told her that there are trust funds available for water bills, but she has only enquired about the one where they match your payments, but as decided not to go ahead as she doesn't believe they will pay half of £6k and she can only afford £14 per month.

She is unwilling to apply for the fund if you cannot afford to pay, as she said it will affect her credit rating and prevent her applying for loans or a new mortgage.

I've advised her to contact CAB but she doesn't have time Hmm

I want to help her as I know she is likely to exploit my dad. He is ill in hospital at the moment (he has cancer and it may have spread to his pancreas). I don't know she will do this, but it is worrying my mum that she will when he gets out. They aren't well off, but they bought her a washing machine recently and quite often she asks for money.

I would like to know what I can suggest to help her so she doesn't ask mum & dad. Anyway she can sort this bill out through funds, etc.

OP posts:
Unreasonabubble · 16/04/2021 18:49

No! No! No! Contact the water company. My meter did not record any of my water for well over a year. When I finally realised this, I contacted them. They were so good about it and wrote it all off. The meter has now obviously been fixed.

The water company will realise that there is NO WAY a domestic use would have been that much. Get her to talk to them.

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 18:53

Thank you.

She claims to have spoken to them, but she has said that it's her fault, due to the leak. I wonder if she just accepted responsibility when she phoned them, maybe she should let me (or her partner/my mum), phone on her behalf?

OP posts:
Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 18:55

Ahh...I've just found out that there is a water allowance if the leak is external and it's the first one, where they will deduct if from your bill, will have to tell her this (but she doesn't listen, any ideas how to get her to listen, not just make excuses). Glad you got it sorted.

OP posts:
FlyingBurrito · 16/04/2021 18:58

Go back to the water company and either do the call with you there and/or get her to authorise you to speak on her behalf so you actually know what's going on

This must happen all the time and most things can be sorted out. Don't go flying off in all directions until you've established the facts

worriedatthemoment · 16/04/2021 19:33

That must of been some leak ? £3.5 k for 3 months

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 20:04

@worriedatthemoment that's what I thought, she showed me the bill, so she's not lying about the cost. Surprised no ground was boggy, but it was under concrete (still thought it may have encroached on the neighbour's land, but I'm not clued up on it).

OP posts:
Someaddedsugar · 16/04/2021 20:12

@WishIWasSomewhereElse which water company is she with?

She needs to contact their customer service team ASAP (phone will be best for this one) and discuss the situation with them.

There will be set processes in place for this kind of thing, particularly as she's spotted the leak and has clearly had it fixed.

When it was fixed was there any indication what caused the leak? Eg was it the pipe work or was it something that she'd done to cause the leak?

x2boys · 16/04/2021 20:33

I had a problem with United utilities they said I owed £4000,and kept trying to put my direct debit up to a ridiculous amount/ month I went back and forth for over a year with them getting no sense out of and eventually contacted the ombudsman,eventually it was discovered that when someone had read my meter ,there had had been an error and a decimal point had been put in the wrong place ,they ended up owing me 🙄

x2boys · 16/04/2021 20:42

It was the consumer council for water was who I contacted

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 21:00

@Someaddedsugar Thames Water. I don't know what caused the leak, her partner has spent a couple of days at home and she said it is definitely fixed, she said something about some cables being laid, but she talks about several things at once so it was hard to follow.

Thanks @x2boys. Glad you got it sorted and useful to know of the ombudsman/consumer council.

OP posts:
CaliRanch · 16/04/2021 21:05

She needs to call Thames Water again and ask for help. Perhaps with you there with her and the phone on loud speaker. They won’t speak to you if you call on her behalf so be there with her. They’ll find a way to help her pay what she can.
Alternatively, consumer council for water and OFWAT but only if the water company won’t help you.

x2boys · 16/04/2021 21:18

If Thames water is anything like United utilities the people you speak to will just tell you ,to owe the money and won't do anything to find out how the debt has occured / got so high ,the consumer council for water put my account on hold whilst there was a proper investigation.

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 21:24

Thank you both, will suggest to her that she phones with either my mum or me present.

OP posts:
Longdistance · 16/04/2021 21:29

We had a leak in one of our toilets which was broken. It was nowhere near £3k, bloody hell!
She’ll need to get it investigated properly if under her garage. I’d assume that wasn’t an internal home problem but an external problem.
We spread our payments out over an amount of time because the problem really was ours, as dh didn’t get a plumber to sort the leaking toilet after I said 🙄 great builder!

Someaddedsugar · 16/04/2021 21:44

This is taken from Thames' leakage code of practice:

  1. Your leak allowance

If you have a water meter, it’s important to remember that it records all water passing through it, including any lost through leaking pipes. And your bills will include the water wasted through the leak, as well as the water you’ve actually used.

We want to make sure you’re not left out of pocket, which is why we’ll cover the extra cost of your leak on your bill so long as:
• The leak’s repaired within three weeks of it being confirmed
• You make your allowance claim within three months of the date of repair, even if you haven’t yet received a water bill for the property
• The leak wasn’t caused by negligence
• You didn't know about the leak - if we think you should have known about it but didn't fix it, you won't be entitled to a leak allowance
• We haven’t had to issue you a Section 75 enforcement notice

If approved, we’ll credit your account with any money that would have been added to your bill as a result of your leak – simple as that!
If you don’t meet the above criteria but feel you have exceptional circumstances, please let us know, and we’ll consider your leak allowance claim on its individual merits.

If you qualify, we can provide you a leak allowance for leaks on any internal pipework on one occasion. But for leaks on your water supply pipe, you can claim as many times as you need. To apply for an allowance, please go to thameswater.co.uk/leakallowance

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 22:05

@Someaddedsugar thank you, have forwarded to her Flowers

OP posts:
Mumof3girlsandaboy · 16/04/2021 22:28

Hello, I had the similar situation when we bought our house. After 3 months of leaving in the house I got a bill that was nearly 2k. I contacted the water company and after some investigation they found out it was 2 toilets that was leaking water and they told me I have to pay because the leak was in house. But few days later I contacted them again and told them I couldn’t pay and they gave me a form to fill in all my expenses and they calculated everything and I was told to pay £70 a month but after paying it for 10 months I got a letter saying I have finished paying the bill.

Original poster
WishIWasSomewhereElse · 16/04/2021 23:05

Thank you and glad you got it sorted Flowers

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 17/04/2021 03:40

You mention cables being laid? Who laid the cables? Could they have damaged pipework?

If it was a contractor, they would be liable to pay - the electricity company, they should pay up. Or if it was an electrician, they should have insurance to cover this sort of thing.

This problem is unlikely to go away and your DSis needs to put her big girl pants on and sort it, rather than hoping that someone is just going to hand out thousands of pounds to make the problem go away.

If she doesn't get anywhere with the water company, OFWAT or the Moneysavingexpert Resolver service may help.

She doesn't want to go down the 'paying half' route either, because that's still a huge sum that she's probably not liable for, whether or not she can afford it or taps your DF for the money.

safariboot · 17/04/2021 04:21

Would home insurance pay the bill if the water company won't reverse it? Or is it excluded from the policy?

user1471462634 · 17/04/2021 08:33

I got my bill cut in half as I could prove we had a leak in the toilet. I provided receipts of items to repair it. We're only talking £200 but at £400 I knew & they knew it wasn't right. If she can she prove there was a leak in the garage or can show receipts of work to fix it I'm sure that will be OK, they want to help, they'll know there's been a leak somewhere.

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