Pensioner sent £4,000 bill after meter reading delay

A PENSIONER from Henley has said he has no faith in Thames Water after being hit with a £4,000 water bill as his meter was checked for the first time in three years.

Philip Willis suffered a leak in his property in 2021 and the incident and repair was covered by his home insurance.

He believed the issue had been resolved and heard nothing from the water company until the summer when a large lump sum appeared on his water bill as “excess water usage”.

Thames Water said this was due to the leak and a delayed meter reading and Mr Willis said that the £4,096 bill had filled him with “anxiety and dread”.

Mr Willis said: “The sick feeling was horrendous. I just had to sit down and recover. I phoned up Thames Water and they said it was to do with the leak and that they would look into it.

“Somebody mentioned I should have filled out a leak allowance form and I said nobody had told me about that at the time and they said they were going to investigate. I was ringing them every week.

“Eventually, someone said they could see what a mess the account was in and said it should have been flagged a long time ago. I was expecting them to ring me back about it on September 12 but I’ve heard nothing since. When I ring, they say they’re going to do something, but they never do. I have no faith in them. You ring up and you get the same old response that they will look into it.”

“I feel very disappointed with Thames Water and I have no faith in them. I think they’re shambolic.”

Thames Water have since apologised and agreed to award Mr Willis a goodwill payment for the issues caused.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: “We’re very sorry to Mr Willis for the recent large bill and service he has received when trying to resolve this.

“Our customer services team are carefully reviewing his case and have confirmed that a suspected leak and delayed meter reading led to the high bill.

“We aim to read meters at least once a year and are sorry that this hasn’t been the case for Mr Willis.

“While we rectify the issue, we have paused billing on his account and once we apply the leak allowance, we will adjust his bill.

“We will also be applying a goodwill payment to Mr Willis’s account for the inconvenience caused in resolving this matter.”