Leak in my water supply - where do I stand?

[Trojanfarce]

At the weekend I received a rather scary bill for my water rates. ( Apparantly I've used just under 2 years supply in 6 months). I'm on a meter.

I contacted the water board who immediately said "Aha, you must have a leak" and said they'd arrange an inspection.

What I need to know is, where do I stand if the leak is on my property? and am I liable for this huge bill?

[stanleyman]

If it is your pipe from the meter that is leaking then I'm afraid you are liable, however, if the leak is at the meter, say your connection to it that the waterboard made when fitting it, then you should have a case to argue. Otherwise you could always ask them to be charitable in the circumstances and say halve the bill.

[woofgang]

was going to say the same. After the meter, your responsibility unless they made a bog up of fitting the meter

[Trojanfarce]

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

[woofgang]

sorry its not better news!

[khana]

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I recently had a water bill for just under �200 for the quarter (SW Water). This is on a 2 bedroom flat and I was wondering if this is excessive or relatively normal, I must say that it shocked me, but its the first one I have had since moving down to Cornwall.

[Trojanfarce]

Mine was for �400 for six months which the water board (Welsh Water) deemed to indicate a leak. Apparently average consumption is roughly 10 units a month so if yours is significantly higher than that, then I guess you should query it.

[stanleyman]

Don't forget that unless you have a septic tank the charges are also for removing sewage. Our charges with no meter are �180.00 a quarter. With a meter it should depend on how many people are using water but I think you will find that the way the pricing is structured it does not make a big difference how much is used. If you use metered water that does not go down the drain you should get the water supplier to adjust for the smaller drainage.

1 unit is 1 cubic metre or 1000 litres = 220 gallons of water. I reckon we use 80 gallons per day x 30 = 2400 gallons per month x 4.54 = 10896 litres/1000 = 10.89 units per month for four persons, just above average. This only costs pennies extra. If water was properly metered there could be serious hygiene problems with some people using very little.

[BillyBB]

If the leak is your responsibility, check whether it would be covered under your household insurance.

[funnywebsite]

Khana, that is very excessive, see if you can get a water meter fitted. South West Water are very expensive I know.

[teneonshing]

If a leakage is there, then you must have to take the responsibility and this is the reason; you would have to pay the bill. However, you may contact the water supplying agency to know the bill in detail, which would help you to be familiar with the issue from a closer view.