Oldun

This is a comparison between my domestic water rate and my business water rate.
Domestic,
I live in a large top floor 2 bedroom apartment.
I have 6 rooms that have these features that use water... 2 toilets, 3 sinks, bath, shower and washing machine.
Water rates are £20 per month.

Business,
A unit within a Business Centre.
In the Business Centre there are communal toilets, washing facilities and kitchen which are all covered by the monthly rental charge.

I have no water facilities within my unit.

My unit's floor area is 240 sq.ft, it doesn't have an outside roof, it's a building within a big warehouse type building.
Water rates are £11 per month.
This is for taking away the water from the part of the outer roof that is directly above my unit.

Doesn't make sense, I know it's not a lot of money but it just seems unrealistic to me. It's not like it rains more over my unit than it does over my apartment.

I would hate to pay the water rates for Stobart's 1.4 million sq.ft facility in my town.

David Lock

Get a meter put in.

dl

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Slightly off-topic, but what makes me laugh about apartment buildings is that costs for lift maintenance are spread across everyone, even those who live on the ground floor, and lift maintenance was - when I was in an apartment - by far the biggest communal outgoing.

Oldun

I have a meter in my apartment.

Did you miss the point... I don't have any water facilities in my unit

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Sewage costs have always surpassed our actual water usage ever since we have been metered.

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

stop moaning try £64 quid a month living in the south west

ricknight16

Sewerage rates will always be more expensive as the water has to be treated. Don't see what/why your being charged for as you are not creating any wastewater as such. Im pretty sure you cannot just be charged for sewerage either, that doesn't sound right at all :S

Oldun

Apparently it's for getting rid of the rainwater from the area of roof that is directly over my unit. My unit doesn't touch the main building roof which is about 20ft above.
Money for nothing if you ask me.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

I pay near on £1k for water each year and half of that is for getting rid of it........we have a slight reduction because some of the water draining off the property goes into the adjacent field / soakaway / water course..

Shaun

stamfordscoob

Reason why you are being charged a proportion of the cost is that your unit couldn't exist (well not in this country, with our weather) without a roof, somewhere above your ceiling, regardless of how far you are from it.

Reason why its more expensive is because it is (in theory) a use that generates profit, as opposed to domestic, which is for living purposes (albeit you may eventually make a profit should you come to sell). Same principle applied with council tax vs business rates.

Tidgy

Just goes to show how little knowledge there is about the water industry in the general public. Not saying that as an insult because i was exactly the same till i started working in the sector. Once you work in the sector you realise just how much infrastructure there is out there.

When a new treatment plant cost tens of millions (last major one we worked on is undergoing a full refit and capacity increase at a cost of 48million) the bills have to be paid somehow.

Will more than likley be a combined sewer/surface drain so will be fully treated as if it was sewage.

Oldun

That's understandable, but my apartment has a roof area that is 4 times the area of the roof above the unit plus water in and waste water/sewage out.
My unit has no running water in or out, so why is it so expensive compared to my domestic rate?

Tidgy

there prob is some extra loading on busniess's (i dont deal with bills, just the system engineering), but if people got charged the actual cost of putting in infrastructure and such think they'd **** a brick tbh. also how many aparments is there? could it just be because the cost is split amogst a fw folks?

when a pipe connection can cost £5,000 to link to a works, takes a long long time to recoupe that at £11 a month, and that doesnt include treating it.