15 July - Public enemy number 1
Anyone who
drives in Bexley will know what a menace Thames Water is. Indeed Bexley Council
has officially acknowledged that they are
the worst utility to work with and care
not one jot for anyone - apart from senior managers and shareholders that is.
Back in April I briefly mentioned that my water bill had gone up by
exactly 50% - give or take the odd penny - and I asked Thames Water for an explanation and
requested that they install a meter. I not only have no meter, I haven’t even
got a stopcock in the footpath outside. All my neighbours have, but not me.
Thames Water eventually replied but their email did nothing
apart from referring me to the
back of my bill. The meter question was ignored.
I asked them how they justify charging me more for having three bedrooms.
What has that got to do with water consumption? Only
one of mine has a bed in it but apparently three bedrooms in a single occupier house
means that much more water is used.
The reply was to the effect that they did not want to discuss the matter.
“We have already carried out a full and final review into your case in line with
our complaints procedure. I need to let you know we’re unable to discuss the
matter further as detailed in our previous response dated 11 April 2025.” (See below.)
A further paragraph said that in their experience people without meters use more
water than those without. Obviously we have an intellectual genius working at Thames Water.
I didn’t get to see the reply immediately because of my stays in hospital but
when I did you can imagine it was very much a red rag to a bull case.
Red rag to a bull.
I asked them how they justified £54 a month at times like during hospital stays and
pointed out that they could not cut me off for non-payment because there is no
stopcock, that is the whole point of the complaint but Jade Warburton at Thames
Water is far too dim to recognise that.
In fact I have been paying the bills but not by Direct Debit. I am currently
within 50 pence of paying the entire annual bill and the second sixth monthly
installment is not even due yet. I left it 50 pence short to give TW something to moan about.
This has not stopped Thames Water from phoning me - I no longer answer their
calls - and sending letters - which I have stopped opening.
I discovered by accident years ago that if you don’t pay Thames Water exactly
what is demanded - like a penny too much for example - they do not recognise the payment at all.
So Thames Water is currently wasting its time demanding I pay them when I
already have, albeit in several random amounts, and because they said that they expect me to use more water than
non-metered customers and I do not wish to disappoint
them, the garden tap has been left running throughout daylight
hours for several weeks. I am being charged more in two months than a cousin
living in identical circumstances, single, three bedrooms etc. does in a year
and all because Thames Water failed to fit a stopcock 38 years ago. Their problem not mine.
While Thames Water refuses to discuss the missing stopcock issue, it is “bugger them”; I will waste as much
water as I possibly can.