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H²0 Building Services Water Consultants identify massive water company overcharge £ 98,919.65!
After a year the “water consultants” at H²O Building Services have at last completed a case involving gross overcharging by United Utilities.
The fact United Utilities were billing for water and waste water services based on a fixed charged basis on rateable value for years even though a water meter was installed by them towards the end of 1999 and billed the customer on a water volumetric basis of about £600 per year. United Utilities lost the water meter and attempted on two occasions to locate it and failed (even though H20 Engineers located and exposed the water meter which was tarmacked over in the pavement within an hour of arriving on site where we followed the meter location details received from United Utilities) so they reverted back to charging the customer on a fixed charge basis for water and waste water services based on rateable value, so instead of paying some £ 600 per year or £3,500 over the 5 years United Utilities raked in over £ 100,000!! A blatant overcharge and yet when H2O applied to United Utilities for a refund of the overcharges and they refused!
Negotiations between United Utilities, H2o and the Consumer Council for Water finally concluded in December 2012 resulting in a refund of £ 98,919.65.
Graham Mann the Senior Partner at H2O states ” I am appalled at the way United Utilities have treated this case, an initial complete refusal to refund the overcharges which in terms of a single number on one site was the worse case we have dealt with last year, this is just yet another example of the urgent need for a Water Industry Ombudsman with the authority to review cases of gross overcharging and have the power to force water companies to refund monies where it is clearly demonstrated as an overcharge has taken place. At the moment water companies in general are getting away with over charging £millions of businesses in the UK, yet there is no mechanism for enforcement action as with other utilities.
This is almost a daily occurrence that we are identifying refunds due to overcharging through our water audit process, we shall now be pressing the government and the regulator for change”.