NEED ADVICE: Broken Water Stop Tap - Billed for High Usage (VIC)

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  GG57 on 06/02/2018 - 16:26

  I think that SE Water have been reasonable, in that they have heavily discounted the bill.
  Have you found where the leak is, as it could still be a problem. Apart from the costs and waste of water, the leak could be damaging your property.

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 16:31

    Thanks for replying so quickly.
    Currently is no house on the property, and I didn't notice any soft/wet spots when I went to check it out.
    I have since got the main tap blocked off so no water can be coming into the property at this stage.

    • 

      endotherm on 06/02/2018 - 22:35

      If the tenants turned off the main tap when they left, then there is no water getting to the property. You could have had all the taps wide open and a break in every pipe on the property and there shouldn't have been a drop of water wasted. This logically leads to the conclusion that the shut off tap is defective, and if I'm not mistaken that is the responsibility of the provider.

      I was told that the stop tap is not an effective method to stop water going into the property.

      It should be. You need to be able to shut off the water to do any plumbing maintenance. That would be a piss-poor disclaimer if your electricity provider told you the main fuse didn't really isolate the power when you are working on it! I'd be telling them that they should be providing an effective stop valve otherwise they would be wasting $2000 per quarter, not the customer.

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        Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 23:35

        Thanks for that endotherm.
        That's what I'm trying to get at (the main tap being faulty) but the water company doesn't seem to be budging.
        I'm going to get in touch once more tomorrow and might escalate this to EWOV if there isn't a solution to this.
        I will keep you posted on how it goes.

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        Hello Stranger on 07/02/2018 - 22:13

        So I was told that the stop tap doesn't have to be there and that it is a courtesy from the water company. I couldn't find anywhere that states stop taps are compulsory, but found that all houses are fitted with a water meter and stop tap. Both of which are the responsibility of the water company (it was on their own website).
        This has been sent back to them and awaiting reply.

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  spackbace on 06/02/2018 - 16:29

  What they've said, and offered, sounds fair. Not their fault that no one was in the property or monitoring the property.

  So a reporting period is what, 2 months? I can't believe that as the owner you wouldn't check on your property over that time :/

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 16:33

    Reporting period is 3 months over here.
    It is pretty far out from where I live so wouldn't think that I had to check on it since the property was fenced off since it was being demolished and the plan was to rebuild.

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  slowedawg on 06/02/2018 - 16:34

  I think you're out of luck. Cutting the bill in half isn't terrible. Can you look at your insurance policy and see if there is anything that would be covered under it (unlikely, but you never know). Do you manage the property yourself, or through a real estate agent? Are they liable for checking these things and doing final property checks etc?

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 16:45

    Thanks, unfortunately it was privately managed.
    I will go through the insurance policy and see if I can find anything.

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  oscargamer on 06/02/2018 - 16:57

  You will of course have to find out where the leak is downstream of the stop tap…..

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  Slippery Fish on 06/02/2018 - 17:07

  Pay it.

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  Smulder on 06/02/2018 - 17:09

  What $ amount was the bill prior to this one, when people were still living there?

  Surely the volume of water that must be leaking to incur a $2k water bill would indicate a fairly substantial leak? Our water bill is a quarter of that, and we are a household of 4 that has 4 x showers per day, plus cooking, toilet, dishwasher etc… I can't even imagine 4 times the amount of water we use just leaking out… especially if the counter was only 'running slowly'.

  Doesn't seem to make sense?

  Maybe I am underestimating how much water a small leak can waste?

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 17:46

    Previously the bills were average, I don't know exactly what it was but no where near this amount since the tenants were there for a few years.
    It doesn't make much sense to me too but when I said the counter was running slowly, I could see the numbers change as I was watching it.

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  Ocker on 06/02/2018 - 17:54

  +3

  That must have been a HUGE leak!! I calculate you were charged for approx. 4,100 lt of water per day. In context, a family of 4 will use around 800lt per day.

  On that basis it is difficult to imagine that a wet area was not very evident.

  Either that or your neighbor filled his swimming pool in your absence.

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 23:37

    +1

    Yeah, you're calculation is spot on. It's a crazy amount of usage.
    The house was demolished and there were no wet areas in sight. I would imagine that there would be wet areas even if the pipes were underground due to the amount of water being wasted.
    And I don't think any of my neighbours have a pool in the area.

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  Taita on 06/02/2018 - 21:48

  The stop tap of our home had been leaking for a while before we noticed the constant dampness in that corner of the front yard. It was a constant drip. I called Sydney water to ask about how to go about fixing that. They sent out someone the next day to fix it. No costs involved for repairs but a minor spike in the bill for that month.

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    Hello Stranger on 06/02/2018 - 23:39

    +1

    So when you say minor spike in bill, do you mean that you were billed for the water usage caused by the leak?
    What I'm trying to get at is that the main stop tap is the responsibility of the water company, so any leakage as a result of that tap being faulty should be covered by the company and not billed to the customers.

    • 

      Taita on 08/02/2018 - 09:48

      You have a point.
      I should have followed that up :/

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  Hello Stranger on 09/03/2018 - 23:18

  +2

  UPDATE:
  So when I phoned up afterwards, they agreed to knock off about half of what was owed.
  So owing just under $500, but since I believed that this is not my fault for the stop tap being broken, I escalated this further to their team manager.
  No response via email or phone call, but I did receive a letter in the mail about a week later confirming that the full amount has been waived and no payment is required.

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    Smulder on 10/03/2018 - 19:22

    Good result :)

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  PlumPro on 03/07/2018 - 13:06

  That does seem like a extremely large water leak. As the tap is a means of isolation and is not the cause of the leak, the company should have no obligation to cover the cost. Nice negotiation to get that outcome.