Littlehampton's water meter misery continues

Mr Gibb has written to Southern Water, stating that the huge charges were "obviously a mistake" '” residents have told us that their metered bills had increased by up to nine times their usual rate.

And doubts over the accuracy of bills were reinforced by the experience of pensioner David Smith, 73, of Mill Lane, Toddington, who said he was told his meter had been read, despite the fact that weeds growing across its cover had not been disturbed.

"I rang to say it had not been done, and was told that it had. When I explained about the weeds, I was told to do it myself," said David, who has been housebound for two weeks, recovering from a fall.

"My bills have not gone up, but I think it shows that the meters are not being read."

Two weeks ago, the Gazette reported that six homes in Leeward Road, Littlehampton, had been affected by a disproportionate increase, with one woman, who has asked not to be named, seeing hers rise from around 100 a quarter to more than 800.

Since then, readers from Angmering, Rustington, East Preston and even Ferring have reported the same problem.

Mr Gibb said: "The very idea that Southern Water can charge 800 for a quarter, for an average family, is quite obviously a mistake.

"Every day, every hour, that goes past without this being resolved is a cause of a huge amount of worry; worry that Southern Water is responsible for."

He added that he had written to the company, asking for them to investigate the matter, and to "take swift action to resolve" the problem.

Mike James, speaking on behalf of Southern Water confirmed that 26 complaints of this nature had been received by the company, and that the matter was under investigation.

But, he added, previous bills had been based on "erroneously low meter readings".

"The revised bills are correct. We are charging customers for the water services they have actually received."

"However, we do understand that this might cause some customers payment difficulties and we invite them to contact us so that any problems can be resolved on a case-by-case basis. We repeat our apology to those customers concerned."

He added that by law, meters only needed to be read every two years, but that Southern Water aimed to carry out the task every six months.

A spokeswoman for water regulator OFWAT said that any customers not happy with the outcome of their complaints should get in touch with the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which would investigate the issue on their behalf.

* Log onto www.ccw.org.uk or call 0207 931 8502.

* For the full story, see this week's Littlehampton Gazette, on sale now.

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