Southern Water admits 18-year meter mix-up – but insists we owe it more

A tenant renting his grandmother’s house while she is in a care home with dementia received a £614 quarterly bill from Southern Water despite paying £62 a month by direct debit. He discovered the company had registered the wrong meter to his grandmother’s account and was charging her for a neighbour’s supply, meaning she had been overcharged since she moved to the newly built estate 18 years ago.

Southern visited the property, admitted the account was linked to the wrong meter and installed a new digital one. In December the company cancelled the £614 bill and said the account was £500 in credit, but then it wiped the credit and demanded £500 even though new meter readings show actual usage of about £100.

The mix-up was not obvious when the neighbouring household was small, but bills increased as four people began living there.

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