Water charges

One stealth charge you can sidestep

New billing arrangements mean you're paying more for your water. Well you needn't. The Bugle's own Drain Brain explains why

August 6, 2009: Billing arrangements from the Water Companies have changed. If you owned a property and your surface water didnot go to the water authority sewers but to soakaways or a water course, then under the previous arrangements you were not charged for the discharge of your surface water.

That’s changed. Now, if you read the small print on the back of the bill, you are charged. All properties, even if exempt before, now pay the Waste Water Rate, which includes the surface water charge unless they have applied for the Surface Water Drainage Rebate. The rebate is £20 per bill (£40 a year)—a cash back well worth having in these times.

Now, how to claim the rebate!

The Water Company Bill does give on the back a telephone contact number, but the author has never been able to get through, however long he hung on. An elderly neighbour did get through on the phone but the operator said that she had never heard of the Surface Water Drainage Rebate form and could not help him.

There are two forms on the Thames Water website but they are hard to find so I will give the links.

The first is to a PDF (48kb) to print out a form for postal application, it is:-
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xbcr/corp/form-surface-water-drainage-appeal.pdf.

The second is a web site for an on-line application:
https://forms.thameswater.co.uk/surface-water-drainage#.

The rebate is only back datable to the beginning of the financial year in which the application is made, so get yours in now.

I believe the change was made with good intentions. The legislators were trying to ensure water companies did not charge householders for receiving surface water. But the way it has been done and the way we've all been been kept in the dark about it has had the opposite effect. The Water Companies just say 'it’s all on the bill, read it'.

As this may well disadvantage the elderly, please consider any living near you and talk to them about getting their rebate.

You will need to be reasonably certain that your property does connect to a soakaway (or watercourse). In our area all the properties south of the Guildford Leatherhead Road are on chalk soil and most probably are, as are the properties down to the Lower Road on the loam soil.

If you are in any doubt about where your surface water drainage goes I suggest you contact Thames Water and ask them to investigate your circumstances.

The author wants to stay anonymous—Ed