Dont be fooled

[Dutto]

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree that water company "profits" are somehow reinvested in the infrastructure.

Check out this article in the Sunday Times which can hardly be classed as a "left wing" paper with an axe to grind against big business.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Companies/article1582665.ece

Also, when considering "non-payment is an ever rising component of this cost" there must be a direct correlation between the increase in non-payment and the rising cost of water services.

Because we objected to the way our contract with the company was changed, and the way in which the changes were introduced, the water company assumed (mistakenly) that we were receiving government benefits and therefore offered us a subsidy if we gave them proof of the benefits we received.

We consider it an odious system whereby a commercial company charges so much for their product that they can offer poor people a refund if they prove that they are poor.

Especially when the product is one of the essential requirements of life!

 

[brumbrew]

It is a fact (arithmetic) that non-payment is an ever rising component of this cost., Most of a Water Company's "profits" actually goes towards the the cost of raising the money that was and still is needed to rebuild the infrastructure.

Much of infrastructure is in place, pipes have been swapped out to not durable materials etc.

Your only particularly paying for the santizing of the water before it gets to your tap. With added fluoride (insert Dr. Strangelove quote) this I agree with. But why is the price so high?

 

[Slid]

Much of infrastructure is in place, pipes have been swapped out to not durable materials etc.

Your only particularly paying for the santizing of the water before it gets to your tap. With added fluoride (insert Dr. Strangelove quote) this I agree with. But why is the price so high?

That is a very fair question. Leave that one with me and I will try to give you a sensible answer.

Which company is your supplier? This is not hugely relevant, it is more of "By the Way".

 

[brumbrew]

That is a very fair question. Leave that one with me and I will try to give you a sensible answer.

Which company is your supplier? This is not hugely relevant, it is more of "By the Way".

Severn trent. Water stolen from Wales I believe ;-)
Somewhere in the Brecon beacons.

A lot of people here buy bottled water for brewing. Because its cheap! People 'harvest' their own water, and as I mentioned the lack or respect to dairy farmers is ridiculous. Milk is cheaper than water!?!?

Is it true your bill is more about the size of your roof? Or how much effluent your estimated to make?

I work near to poo plant at minworth. When the wind changes....... :whistle:

 

[Slid]

Severn trent. Water stolen from Wales I believe ;-)
Somewhere in the Brecon beacons.

A lot of people here buy bottled water for brewing. Because its cheap! People 'harvest' their own water, and as I mentioned the lack or respect to dairy farmers is ridiculous. Milk is cheaper than water!?!?

Is it true your bill is more about the size of your roof? Or how much effluent your estimated to make?

I work near to poo plant at minworth. When the wind changes....... :whistle:

Having worked recently for a large-ish retailer, I would say that your disgust with the treatment of Dairy Farmers is fairly widespread.

If you are not on a meter, you used to pay water rates according to the rateable value of the property. But that is going back a while. I will check up on whether the bills now align with Council Tax Bands, but I would imagine they most likely do. That would make the the comment on the roof an astute one. Not least because if you get yourself a water butt that collects rain from the roof (we now have 2) and request the installation of a water meter, the bills might go down a fair bit if you are careful.

I use the word "you" here in sense of the third person, of course, as you have explained your position already.

Waste Water charges are levied on the assumption that all water used is returned as waste water.- whether the water used is metered or assumed via the water levy.

As water companies are assessed on the basis of how much nuisance they cause, you might complain every time the smell is unbearable.

I am still pondering the question of where all the money goes, but I'm pretty sure it all comes down to the number of people who depend, directly or indirectly on Water Companies for their livelihood.

 

[Dutto]

For unmetered supplies they use a fixed figure for supply, dealing with waste water and road drainage then add on "The Rateable Value of the property in 1986 (*) multiplied by 'x' pence!"

Being an untrusting soul, especially where water companies are concerned, I asked my local Council Tax Office what the rateable value of my house was for 1986 (*) and they told me that they didn't hold such information; and told me that the Water Company would have the information!

I then went to the Freedom of Information Office for the same Council and got a similar message.

In other words, "The lunatics are running the asylum folks!!" :whistle: :whistle:

Enjoy! :thumb:

Note: The (*) is because I am not absolutely certain of the year for which the calculation is made. Sorry.

 

[Slid]

This is a fairly reasonable and objective source of factual information on the subject, with some useful comment from a consumer's perspective.

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/

Hope this is useful.

 

[JapanBrew]

Very interesting post.
I'm in a place where the water gods dump more water than any country could ever use. So going back to the main topic, wasting water. Now there's a problem with that statement since you really can't do that unless you used the water then jettisoned it to space.
The water always returns to its original source. What causes issues is the more pipes we make, we store the water and take it out of circulation. That's a problem. A true conservative method would be a water system that's always flowing. There's a science word that I forgot but it states that you can't take something and make it nothing

 

[Dutto]

This is a fairly reasonable and objective source of factual information on the subject, with some useful comment from a consumer's perspective.

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/

Hope this is useful.

CCWater were very, very useful in my fight to get back an unmetered supply, plus because they failed to get a resolution to my problem they referred me to WATRS which is an arbitration service.

Although they were unable to get the SoLow system restored, WATRS found partially in my favour and awarded me a lump sum of compensation and made the water company reinstate the unmetered supply. :thumb:

Oh, here's another Water Company Scam to ponder!

If you pay for an unmetered supply by Direct Debit the water company removes the annual amount from your account with 10 equal sums of money.

"So far so good." you may think but they ALWAYS take the money in the FIRST ten months of the year.

This means that they earn the interest on ALL of your water service payments for the last two months of EVERY year.

Rather than doing the sums I refer you to the Pyjama Game song here:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w4mVycaC_o[/ame]

... and the Tesco advert here ...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCj_tqpSB3o[/ame]

I always think that dealing with these companies is like juggling rats. It's not easy and you stand a good chance of being bitten! :whistle: :whistle:

 

[MyQul]

Oh, here's another Water Company Scam to ponder!

If you pay for an unmetered supply by Direct Debit the water company removes the annual amount from your account with 10 equal sums of money.

"So far so good." you may think but they ALWAYS take the money in the FIRST ten months of the year.

This means that they earn the interest on ALL of your water service payments for the last two months of EVERY year.

Scam/Scum not much of difference methinks. Obviously playing a game of marginal gains. Interest on 1 customer for two months is probably going to be pennies but times that by hundreds of thousands ofcustomers and you quids in

 

[BeerCat]

thanks for your interesting replies. I would hasten to add i did say "if your not on a meter"

Bristol water makes a profit of over ��£2,000,000 every six months thats after overheads such as treatment , staff wages and running costs. profit like that is pure greed, i am happy to pay for water but profit on a basic human right is diabolical.

Thames water is owned by a German bank and since owned by them have filled in 9 reservoirs to sell the land off for building in the London,thames area hence two days of sunshine and they impose a hose pipe ban due to low levels. That is why the South East is always the first to get hose pipe bans and shortage warnings. Its more about profits than supply

I totally agree with you. Making money of water is another **** take imposed on us. Water companies should be forced to install purifiers in every home and stop pretending that chemical laden water is ok to drink.
Foreign corps and banks owning our water makes my blood boil.

 

[guillotine]

Interesting thread!

I Work in the water industry and I am often frustrated with how the water companies agree their rates/profits with ofwat every 5yrs then desperately spend all that money building things that wont last/wont work/not required, because ultimately they don't care, they just have to spend what they said they would. Then 5yrs later they can just replace it all again!! in my opinion if water companies went back maintaining first, then building new for long term (most of them have sacked all there maintenance staff) bills would come down, but the regulation through naivety, or conspiracy, just rewards spending money on short term renewal.
I said conspiracy as you could argue this is to keep construction and manufacturing business busy while and they all take there profits on top, regardless of if the user needs all the new infrastructure, or if it works.

Yes we have lots of water but I believe we should use less of everything, not just water, in order to stop companies exploiting us and the planet. As ultimately profits come from using resources, producing pollution and all on the backs of the poorest. The water is plentyfull in the UK, but the power required to pump it and treat it uses fossil fuels and produces pollution as well as lining the pockets of a few, all in our name.

Never thought is would be discussed on a brewing fourm!

 

[Personal91]

Wars WILL begin over access to clean drinking water sources, in fact it could be argued that it's already happening.

The infrastructure that is already in place ie the pipes to your house are all but paid for a million times over by us and our ancestors. The cost of maintaining these networks can't be much when my local water company, Severn Trent made 40 million profit!

And built a new office in Coventry a few years back at the cost of 6-7 million.

Personally I don't pay for my water as I'm covered by UN resolution 64/292 as are we all, 'the human right to clean water and sanitation'

please tell me more. if i can save money youve got my attention

 

[Personal91]

Quote:
Originally Posted by keat64
I have a 500 gallon hot tub. Shove your water meter Yorkshire Water.

That's a small hot tub. Mine holds over 2000l and is a moderate 4 man.

500 imperial gallons =
2273.045 litres


Im just going to leave this here....:whistle:

 

[Leon103]

quote:
Originally posted by keat64
i have a 500 gallon hot tub. Shove your water meter yorkshire water.





500 imperial gallons =
2273.045 litres


im just going to leave this here....:whistle:

banned!!!!

 

[Personal91]

banned!!!!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI[/ame]

 

[brumbrew]

Errr just don't pay. What can they take away?
And if your house is inhabited they can't turn the water off anyway. And weirdly if you have a pet, they deffo can't. Cause animal cruelty is a crime. Unlike charging extortionate prices for water.

 

[Personal91]

Errr just don't pay. What can they take away?
And if your house is inhabited they can't turn the water off anyway. And weirdly if you have a pet, they deffo can't. Cause animal cruelty is a crime. Unlike charging extortionate prices for water.

well as iv got 3 pets and the neighbours practicaly lives here id reckon im bullet proof then haha

 

[Cwrw666]

Speaking as a farmer, where do people get the idea that milk costs less than water? 2L milk in Tescos is a quid, 2L of bottled water is 17p. Even the farmers get paid twice that for their milk (even if it is less than the cost of production, but that's a different issue). And water from your tap is virtually free - ok it might cost you £500 a year or something, but have you ever stopped to think how many gallons you use in a year?

By the way, I think most people who use bottled water for brewing do it because their water from the tap tastes like s**t.

 

[MyQul]

Had a huge amount of rain last night/this morning which flooded the basement of the apartment block and knocked out the water pump to the block. So we have know got no water because of the rain - oh the irony