Thames Water is billing me for its own mistake

A Thames Water customer says they were blindsided by a bill for nearly £2,000, backdated to 2020 after the company mistakenly stopped collecting their direct debits and failed to send any bills. Thames Water admitted the error and initially promised to write off charges older than 12 months, but then sought to recover almost the full amount.

Water billing rules differ from energy. While businesses cannot be back-billed for more than 24 months, water firms can reclaim up to six years’ worth of charges from household customers if they forget to bill them. The Consumer Council for Water says it expects firms to waive charges that result from their own mistakes and will investigate complaints where that does not happen.

After intervention, Thames Water acknowledged a system error that ended the direct debits six years ago and agreed to waive all charges between April 2020 and March 2026, apologising for “any inconvenience”. The customer was advised to keep a close eye on bills going forward.

United Kingdom

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