New Commercial water suppliers

[Goweresque]

What are people's experiences with the new commercial water suppliers that many of us have been shifted to, as part of this water competition process? I've had 4 accounts shifted to Castle Water, and a bigger bunch of incompetent money grabbing ***** you be hard pushed to find. They make Thames Water look like saints by comparison. I notice on another thread that Water Plus were not exactly getting rave reviews either.

Has anyone been moved one of the new companies and had a positive experience? I don't think I can put up with the stress of getting another Castle Water invoice through the letterbox in which they still haven't read my meter and have estimated my consumption to about 2027 and expect me to pay for water I haven't had.

All I want is a company that will read my meter and send me a bill based on what I have actually used. Is that too much to ask?

 

[Scotty]

Business stream are the worst company I have to deal with.
Must be something in the water.

 

[How much]

Exactly which bit of your water bill can they give a lower price for , water to buy is relatively cheap on our bills its the fixed cost that add up , are the fixed cost fixed for all suppliers in region , you assume it all goes into the same drains at the end of the day so can there be much variability in pricing in real terms ?

 

[had e nuff]

Had to phone NWG yesterday to complain about an estimated invoice that was double the meter reading. Apparently they are only obliged to read the meter once a year. On hold for ages. Never had problems when it was Northumberland water.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

@Goweresque did you ever sort this out?

I am so fed up with CW - they are the business arm of TW it turns out, their invoices are confusing and you get a million bits of paper for one tiny standing charge.

apparently we can swop suppliers, like you can in the energy sector but I have no idea who else is out there that can just send, by email, simple invoices, the admin is costing us more than the water we use!

 

[Steevo]

WaterPlus here - was Severn Trent but they split the business side to WP. Can't see any point switching supplier for just more hassle - unlike "standard variable" tariffs for electric, the water ones do seem rather more standard.

However....it might be worth approaching a broker for this. I was contacted by Black Sheep Utilities a while back regarding this so they may be worth a look for those with various suppliers.

 

[applejack]

I've been moved to Castle Water from Thames, couldn't stand them seem to be able to increase the price on a whim but CW words fail me. Can't understand their invoices, six monthly effectively wanting payment up front for water I haven't even used yet. In a word... rabble.

 

[Goweresque]

@Goweresque did you ever sort this out?

I am so fed up with CW - they are the business arm of TW it turns out, their invoices are confusing and you get a million bits of paper for one tiny standing charge.

apparently we can swop suppliers, like you can in the energy sector but I have no idea who else is out there that can just send, by email, simple invoices, the admin is costing us more than the water we use!

Not really - I requested that CW review 3 different accounts they had of mine from TW, because they were partly domestic, partly commercial, and I was hoping that I might be able to get them put back to TW. I had a guy from TW out and the upshot was that one would indeed qualify as domestic as it supplied 2 houses and a set or derelict buildings and all the water used was to the houses, the other two accounts were considered too commercial to be moved back to TW as although each had about 50% domestic usage, the fact that the other 50% was the farm meant it was considered a commercial account. So looks like I'm stuck with CW on 2 accounts,

 

[Pan mixer]

I was moved to wave from anglian water.

They seem to have a similar level of incompetence to the above companys.

 

[colhonk]

Diabolical.

 

[fastfish]

Any prices per cu/ metre

 

[organicguy]

Any prices per cu/ metre

I think Castle water is £1.34 /m

 

[Goweresque]

Update: in fact I've managed to get 2 of the 3 accounts I asked to be examined moved back to Thames Water as residential. Even that has proved stressful, I've just had bills from TW going back to the last time they read my meter (2015) and although they've allowed for payments I made to them since then, they've ignored all my payments to CW since they took over, so have had to send 2 long emails detailing what payments I'd made and proving that I was in fact in credit, instead of debit to the tune of £1500, which is what they were demanding.....

But it is possible to get a farm out of the commercial water market, especially if there isn't much active farming going on there, its just storage for example, plus some houses.

 

[bobk]

Update: in fact I've managed to get 2 of the 3 accounts I asked to be examined moved back to Thames Water as residential. Even that has proved stressful, I've just had bills from TW going back to the last time they read my meter (2015) and although they've allowed for payments I made to them since then, they've ignored all my payments to CW since they took over, so have had to send 2 long emails detailing what payments I'd made and proving that I was in fact in credit, instead of debit to the tune of £1500, which is what they were demanding.....

But it is possible to get a farm out of the commercial water market, especially if there isn't much active farming going on there, its just storage for example, plus some houses.

Put a borehole in .... you like a project .

 

[pgk]

Supply reconnected last autumn connected cw and tw as the only two I knew off, tw confirmed received my email but that's it. no response from cw. Severn trent who we paid for new connection say they cannot help as it is a supply for field troughs. Dont use much but noone seems to want to bill me, what does one do?

 

[Goweresque]

Put a borehole in .... you like a project .

On the main farm, thats having to stay on CW its a distinct option now, I don't think I can cope with dealing with them in the long run.

 

[milkloss]

Just had my first run at castle water! What a bunch of divs. So they expect me to forward pay water not only for my property but also for a sub meter they have estimated at 0 usage which is balls because the house is being lived in. So now I have to read someone else’s poxy meter too.

Is forward paying for water actually a thing? Am I legally obliged to forward pay? It’s not a massive bill, just principles.

 

[pauld]

Same here with Water Plus - they moved us from half yearly to quarterly billing. Previously water was about equal each half.
They have no understanding of farming and cannot understand cattle only out half the year. Their estimated bills are all over the place and its impossible to get any sense out of them. Don't seem to answer phones either.

 

[gatepost]

I've been moved to Castle Water from Thames, couldn't stand them seem to be able to increase the price on a whim but CW words fail me. Can't understand their invoices, six monthly effectively wanting payment up front for water I haven't even used yet. In a word... rabble.

Just the same here, I had a bill for an address in Walthamstow , are you sure that's not your home? they asked, no you have my address, that's the one you sent the bill too,

 

[kfpben]

The NFU have got regular meetings going on with Castle Water according to a recent e-mail I received.

I need a quiet office morning to sort it out- Castle Water are a disgraceful company. Trying to charge us for sewage on some water troughs which clearly don’t require sewage removal ....especially when our village is 4 miles from a mains sewer!!