People with Large Gardens Should Pay Higher Bills, Says Thames Water Boss
In the News
Am i missing something here ??
The boss of thames water is calling for those with larger gardens to pay more for their water
Isn't there a thing called a water meter that already charges you for the extra water you might use on your garden ?
So why penalise people even more with higher charges , more than they are already overpaying ?
And this is rich coming from a water company , when they are the ones wasting so much because of their leaks , losing millions of gallons each day and also polluting of our rivers
They should be paying more in penalties instead of wanting more to pay the shareholders , why punish the customer yet again ?
Hypocrites !
Even before I came into the thread I thought the same looking at the headline, a water meter should be pretty much compulsory for homes. It's the fairest way to charge for water. It looks like about 60% of homes have a water meter but really it should be 100%. Often it is the homes where people use a lot of water that refuse to go for a meter. They could have a large family, a large garden and like to clean their cars quite often. Those homes are being heavily subsidised by others. Surely that is the issue. Also we need to set up some important criteria for water companies to meet regarding investment in infrastructure. It's so easy for companies to see owning a water company as a cash cow. They simply don't invest but reap as much money as possible while they can.
Unbelievable. People need gardens for many reason and size should not be an issue. What I do get annoyed about is people removing grass areas for bricks, concrete etc which causes flooding as the rain has no where to go. Maybe the water companies can collect it!
eyeballkerry I can see this happening more if people remove their gardens because of this E, an environmental disaster again caused by the water companies and their policies
I agree with every word you wrote and of course the answer is make water meters compulsory, especially if we are supposedly trying to save the planet! Those without meters probably don't even think about the water they use and waste.
I don't think water companies would have the cheek to charge more for larger gardens if you already have a meter. Besides which many people like me have a water butt and I have hardly used any tap water on my garden so far this year, maybe water butts should be compulsory too, save money in the long run!
Lynibis They could make water butts VAT exempt as well as a selection of other environmental friendly products. I don't think they could make it compulsory as that requires people to process all the data that costs money. I certainly feel water meters should be compulsory.
It reminds me of the singer 'Fish' in the group Marillion who I think rented a flat where water and power was charged at a fixed rate and he enjoyed baths so was having them all the time hence his nickname 'Fish'. I may not have remembered the details completely correctly but it was something like that. I was in Wetherspoons yesterday with the free refills for tea and coffee. I had 3 refills for the £1.45 purchase. If it had been 60p a drink I probably would have had one drink. If it had been 70p plus 30p a refill I probably would have had 2 drinks or maybe 3 but wouldn't have got to 4 drinks in total. I even resent it when I don't use all my allocated data on my mobile plan each month and I'm currently only paying 1p a month.
Lynibis were with south west water who hasn't been behaving responsibly like so many others but they have been providing free water butt's to customers which I think is a great idea.
Midnightflower very good. I had a replacement conservatory 4 or 5 years ago and was told it was compulsory with a new conservatory.
Its mainly people who would save money by having a water meter that have one usually not people with kids and big garden.
What would they call big though
No this makes no sense - should be based on water usage and hence every home should have a water meter - you could have a huge garden but all patio and so unlikly to use water as much
definately make water meters compulsory! then its fair!
Mayhem agree I have not a big garden but mainly bigger than some I know and lot and lots of plants. Living alone I decided to try a water meter, bout a water butt still water with hose alot and still not paying what I did before. Gardening has so many environmental and (mental &health) benefits that they need to be careful about a lazy approach like this. Maybe instead try to think of ways to make free / cheap schemes to help people save water for the garden
Well at the end of the day you gotta keep the shareholders happy. They have huge debt and can’t possibly reduce that using money to go to shareholders. Common folk will have to suffer and pay more.
SilverSurfer Privatisation stinks S, all it results in is higher bills for the customer and higher profits for the company and shareholders, not to mention a poorer service all round, just look at the railways, another good example
telmel it’s ok. Thames water will default and government will end up owning them and take on the debt while the shareholders ride of into the sunset with millions and tax payers will pay more to clear the debt.
So a small garden with a swimming pool, hot tub etc would pay less than someone with a large garden with no pool or tub..... meters are the only fair way forward here
ShirleyCarter Charging for larger gardens should not even be an option S, we pay far too much as it is for our water bills , and get little back in exchange
I posted another chat earlier about Sooty the Puppet, whereas this post is about the comments of Cathryn Ross , part of the water board Muppets , I think i would prefer Sooty in charge , at least he made us laugh , whereas this is laughable
What a load of bull from Thames water considering depending where you live they charge you more it’s an absolute disgrace and they are just a shambles maybe if they sorted out their money problems instead of paying shareholders they may have a chance
Privatisation itself isn't the biggest problem, its the total lack of regulation and control by the govt who have consistently ignored warnings over the years that this was going to be a problem. The companies should have been made to invest appropriately rather than just concentrate on their share holders pockets.
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