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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that a £114 water bill a month is insane?

37 replies

beesandstrawberries · 05/05/2025 13:48

I’m in a 2 bedroom small FLAT in Hertfordshire. Only me and my one child live here. I was previously paying £22 a month, and since living here for 5 years I have averaged around the £20 mark a month. Well Thames water have sent me a bill stating that I have to pay £114 a month, and when I challenged them they have said it is correct for my usage. My mum is in the same area in a 4 bed house and pays £50/£60 a month, so it definitely isn’t right so I’m just overwhelmed and stuck.

breakdown

2 bed flat
1 toilet
shallow bath total of around 11 a week
no dishwasher
washing machine runs about once a day or every other day
no garden so have no hose
quite frugal so don’t fill bath up full ever or run taps when brushing teeth. Tap runs slow when washing up - no more than 5 minutes a day.

I'm just stuck because Thames water says it’s correct but a £92 increase a month (£1104 a year) is impossible for me to afford as I’m disabled and my child is also disabled and money is tight. I definitely don’t think it is correct, nothing has changed since last year but Thames water won’t help me and I’m so stressed!

OP posts:

Tulipvase · 05/05/2025 15:53

MissMarianHalcombe · 05/05/2025 15:31

I paid £40 just gone up to £80 -no arrears. My son pays £12, gone up to £36. A friends son has increased from £35 to £110. All in completely different parts of the country. It’s seems to me that many of the water companies as increasing on production of the next bill. It’s unfathomable to me.

Surely £12 a month hardly covers the standing charge?

We are a 4/5 household with 2 bathrooms and heavy users of the washing machine. We pay 77 a month currently to TW but am expecting it to go up soon.

According to our bills we are actually fairly low users compared to average.

ItIsMyName · 05/05/2025 16:07

This does not sound right even with the recent price increase. Are you on a meter? If so you may have a leak which I would ask to be investigated. I would also sign up for to Thames Water’s Priority Services register due to you and your child’s disability, this can also provide financial assistance and you can sign up via the website. Do not be afraid to escalate this issue even if it means you email the CEO (Chris Weston)!

MotherOfRatios · 05/05/2025 16:09

This sounds excessive I'm in a flat Thames water can't have a meter and even my charge is high imo I pay £45 on the assessed charge for a single person

RealEagle · 05/05/2025 16:15

It seems they charge more in flats my daughters bills are ridiculous the times she has rung Thames water complaining they do not listen.My bill has gone from £36 to £52 a month with a meter on 3 bed house just 2 of us

Teenagerantruns · 05/05/2025 16:16

We pay £30 a month, on meter two adults, 2 bedroom flat.just cancel your direct debit and pay what you afford, they can't cut your water off.

K8Davidson · 05/05/2025 16:23

Jesus! Perhaps you have a leak somewhere?

I thought my water bill was extortionate at £75 per month. (Two bed house - 2 adult household)

Gundogday · 05/05/2025 16:27

Ours has just jumped from £70 to £90 a month. It includes all the sewerage as well (in past had separate bills).

Three adults household, water meter

northernballer · 05/05/2025 16:33

Mine has just gone up from £100 to £296 PER MONTH there are 5 of is and we ate heavy users but we must have a leak somewhere. Can't be arrears as we have lived here less than a year

Anyway you have my sympathies OP, trying to get help from a water company is nigh on impossible.

Waitfortheguinness · 05/05/2025 16:58

Do you have access to your water meter, if you have one?
if so, turn everything you have water oriented in your house and see if meters still going. Years ago one bill shot up and we did this, found out we had a small leak under kitchen floor….over the weeks a constant dribble will soon add up.

Waitfortheguinness · 08/05/2025 17:36

Pleasedontdothat · 05/05/2025 14:53

That can’t be right OP - by comparison we live in a 5 bed farmhouse with water going to the stables and fields and the latest water bill was ~£250 for six months - we are metered so that’s a pretty accurate reflection of our usage (I think)

bloody hell, that’s cheap…..where are you - I should imagine your usage is considerably higher than most ordinary domestic homes.
we pay about £400 a year…..2 people in 3 bed house….and we’re both out at work weekdays.

Libs111 · 12/05/2025 14:55

Apart from possible leak, set up "WaterHelp", not "Watersure", it will halve your bill. It's really easy to set up. I think they wanted two letters, that was it. WaterSure is for ppl, who due to disability have to use huge amount of water, so they cap it. WaterHelp is what you want.

SprayWhiteDung · 16/10/2025 07:11

I don't know about Thames Water, but Severn Trent seem to just charge you a random amount, with no rhyme or reason at all.

Our bill (unmetered, 3 people) has doubled and is now around £500 a year. My MIL's bill (3 minutes around the corner, similar size/kind/value house, unmetered, 1 person) has rocketed to over £1,000 a year.

I think they just have a giant bingo machine and pull out a ball for each house - but if they think it's lower than they can get away with, they put it back in and pull out another one.

They keep saying it's because of all the repairs and improvements that they need to make after years of underfunding (and taking dividends that were never available as dividends in the first place). Surely, if anything, they should be compensating us for years of shoddy performance; not putting up our bills to cheerily make us pay for all of their mismanagement?

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