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On my property, they left me a calling card, no details just "we reckon you sprung a leak". Now they'll be wanting it fixed obviously and if I delay too long I believe they do it themselves and no doubt spank me for it. Thing is I've no idea about these things so worried about getting ripped off. No sign of a leak from what I can see, no pooling of water or swamped lawn, not bothered about them digging up our shabby lawn but I don't want them breaking up the concrete to get to pipes underneath if possible. Any advice on how to play it? along with what they can/can't demand I do or pay?
Call the number on the card and ask them. There may be a leakage allowance that could be Taken off your bill.
Also worth knowing that next week is SIM week. This is the week from which OFWAT will randomly select 200 customers to interview about jobs done that week. If UU is anything like my employer they will be falling overt themselves to help you next week.
Leak may be something as simple as overflowing toilet cistern - modern toilets overflow back into the bowl and not always obvious. The water company will normally be quite helpful with identifying the problem.
Cheers will give them a shout. So you reckon maybe something inside house? How can they tell the difference between a leak and a house that just uses a lot of water? (We're not on a meter)
How good is that? You didn't even know you had a leak and UU want to come round and fix it for you.
Call them up, don't worry they'll look after you.
Don't forget to tell them how thoroughly lovely it is of them to let you ride about all over their land. 😉
To answer that question, they'll have found a constant water pressure drop in the area and will have traced it to quite close to your house. It really could be anywhere but for the most part if you're not suffering obvious water leakage in the house it'll be a delivery pipe.
you have a duty to repiar leaks they can legally enforce this duty, however
they do a free (first) leak repair if it's external
if you are metered then you can apply for a leak allowance to offset some of the charges, or write a letter explaining that imposition of charges for leaked water for some classes of customer but not others is a breach of Condition E of their licence and that you will take it to CCW and Ofwat if they try and enforce as you feel undue prefernec is shown to unmeasured customers who in effect get "lost water" insurance within their charges, a benefit that is not offered to you
To answer that question, they'll have found a constant water pressure drop in the area and will have traced it to quite close to your house. It really could be anywhere but for the most part if you're not suffering obvious water leakage in the house it'll be a delivery pipe.
by "traced" you mean some bloke with a stick listening to the pipes
Yeah, we're not quite there with FCO yet. 😉
Severn Trent fixed a leak on my drive for free and wrote off the £2.5 k water bill. It was kind of their fault they didn't pick it up when fitting the meter. The readings were astronomical from day 1 of meter fitting and back to normal after the fix.
Ride round their land? What the land given to [i]the people[/i] which was then sold to a private organisation by corrupt Tories?
Yeah, we're not quite there with FCO yet
you were doing more 15 years ago than you are doing now in terms of advanced network management
and you still aren't that good at the boring stuff
what % of main leaks get repaired on the first contractor visit?
How good is that? You didn't even know you had a leak and UU want to come round and fix it for you.
costs are agreed with Ofwat, the customer all pay a contribution to these costs not the shareholders
Call them up, don't worry they'll look after you.
some good people out there
Don't forget to tell them how thoroughly lovely it is of them to let you ride about all over their land
although title currently vests in UU it is on a 25 year notice should UU fail to operate appropriately and will transfer if the licence gets revokked
UU also have one of the worst repuations to deal with in regard to land access for any group other than (dog) walkers, they make Peel Holdings look reasonable on occassion.I've had a UU member of staff make up barefaced lies about a supposed "death" of a OAP on UU land caused by a Mtber. A complete fabrication.
Much of the land holding is nothing to do with the appointed business but will never be sold or managed differently due to not wanting to increase opex and to mitigate the implications of Condition K of it's licence. (however some bits it couldn't get rid of even if it wanted too which are a drain on resources)
Ride round their land? What the land given to the people which was then sold to a private organisation by corrupt Tories?
Aye, that would be it.
Ride round their land? What the land given to the people which was then sold to a private organisation by corrupt Tories?
Aye, that would be it.
given to the people by who? The landholdings of the various water companies have come into their possession through a complex set of circumstances.
The main UU lake district assets were funded by Manchester City Council. Welsh Water have assets paid for by the people of Birkenhead. Severn Trent by the people of Liverpool.
You can still buy shares in some water companies, buy one and ask a question at the AGM, if you in Wales then you alledgedly "own" it if you are resident in Wales 😉
the rights and wrongs of privatisation are a different thing, boil water notices in Scotland due to heavy rain are still common place, yet very rare in E&W, in NI the infrastructure has been left to rot with them going dry in a major freeze thaw event
UU go round in the dead of night listening to pipes with a stick to detect leaks.
About 14 years ago, we received a similar letter and they sent a contractor out to fix the leak FOC
Don't know if it always is FOC though.
If you have a meter in the street then turn off the water at the stop cock in your house and watch the meter for a while. Any movement would suggest a leak, no movement would suggest its not your problem!
I will try to remember to thank them samuri, see how they handle the leak first 😉
My dad has just been telling me about the stick thing. Will call tomorrow see what they say.
As mentioned in my 2nd post no meter so can't check that, cheers for all the advice tho.