How to stop money draining away

Steve Cunningham was charged for disposing of water still in his pond Watch: Saving money from draining away

When you pour water down the drain, you pay for the privilege.

It's called sewerage and it forms part of your water bill, usually around half of it.

So, if you use water but don't send it into the sewer, then you shouldn't have to pay sewerage.

Working Lunch viewer Steve Cunningham from Essex felt he'd been overcharged when he built a pond in his garden.

Down the drain

He was charged £511 by Essex and Suffolk Water for fresh water to fill it.

He then received a bill for £638 from Anglian Water who assumed the water supplied had gone down the drain.

Steve says that as he still has the water in his pond it is wrong that he should be charged as if it had been sent back into the water system.

Anglian Water won the subsequent legal battle over Steve's tactic of refusing to pay the bills, but they have agreed that if you can prove you haven't poured water down the drain, you shouldn't have to pay the full sewerage charge.

Sewerage bill

The company says they automatically assume customers do not send 10% their water to the sewers, but in Steve's case they have now increased that figure.

To prove how much water usage shouldn't be included in his sewerage bill, Steve installed a meter on the outdoor tap which feeds his hose.

Most water companies already include a discount in their prices, making an allowance for 5% or 10% not going down the drain.

But the water regulator OFWAT told Working Lunch that firms should do more to make customers aware of the availability of sewerage adjustments.

Householders who can prove they don't flush away a significant proportion of their water should contact their supplier to make a claim.