Water Bills

[suziebear]

Having received our water bill last week, it would appear that it, along with all of our neighbours bills, have doubled??? Has anyone else noticed this or is it just us in Sesmarias that have been dealt yet another blow!!!

[steve]

I received mine today. It is based on the meter reading I phoned in and follows the usual calculation for usage. No nasty surprises. My house is in CVO

[Jaylay]

Have you recently been connected to mains drains, as if so like Boavista you will now get a DAR charge (Drainage of waste water) and a charge for Solid Residue,bottom part of bill, this is usually slightly less than the charge for water consumption

[suziebear]

None of us are actually connected yet!! It has been brought to our gates but no connection as we are all still using Fossas - so how does that work!!

[EMM]

As Jaylay will confirm we had to get someone to connect us or as some did DIY. We also had to pay a one off registration fee of E450 I think.
Ii may also be that once mains is available you pay whether you use it or not.

[R.Wethereyet]

I have just received my bill today, 17 days after the alleged reading date, and it is over read by approx 100 units, which equates to over 260 euros overcharged.

The camara are at it again, trying to gain extra money from people, especially those who don't live here and are unable to check their meters before their direct debit gets into the camara's clutches.

Call it what you like, fraud, deception, or an "administrative" error. This sharp practice by a government institution must be highlighted. It happens too many times to be a genuine error.

[R.Wethereyet]

Just checked with our neighbour, theirs is also over charged.

We are already on mains water (at least 3 years), so this has nothing to do with connection charges.

[R.Wethereyet]

Went to the camara today armed with a photo of the meter alongside today's paper. The lady was adamant that the reading on the bill was correct, and stated she had checked, and that I had rung the figure through.

When I showed her the photo, her attitude was as if I had taken a picture of somebody else's meter. After 20 minutes of discussion, which included the word Avogado, she relented and went for the readings book only to point out that the figure was correct.

Except it wasn't, as the name against my meter number was wrong, and after further investigation, it transpired that either the person who rang the number through had given the wrong client number, or someone at the camara had entered the figure against the wrong account. She still asked if I wanted to pay the bill and receive a credit on future bills, which I declined due to the escalation factor, and asked for a new bill that was correct.

So next month I will receive two bills, one which I have to go to Lagoa and pay, the other will be payed through my bank as normal.

What really annoyed me was her attitude that the camara are always correct, and we the customer are always wrong. Even when this is not the case.

[EMM]

So Portugal is no different to the UK then, I like many others could write volumes about our dealings with UK electricity companies, waterboards, credit card companies etc.

3 years ago we had a similar problem with Bristol water that dragged on and on and it was only until we got them to send a senior manager round to check our what we knew was our metre with the water turned off against what they said was ours did we get a £500 water bill reduced to under £200.

[joanne]

I have been on here so many times re this prblem, I go to the Villa about 12 to 14 weeks a year, and my bills have been so high, had one last Aug for over a Thousnd Euros for one month, I was told the same either pay up or I would be cut of, I have had another this Aug for over Five Hundred Euros which just isnt correct I had been to the Villa for 12 days in July....My friend who lives in the Village is now reading the meter for me every 2 weeks and I am having to Email my Solic who is Emailing the figures to the Water people, she said it is common for the bills to be read once or twice a year so that the big readings end up on the highrer Tariff....I t just isnt right and there is nothing that we can do, hoping that this may help to sort this problem out, but not holding my breath....

[suziebear]

HA!! Just received notification that they are going to cut us off on the 22nd if we dont pay it ... off to Lagoa, after lunchtime of course, still having their 1.5 - 2 hour lunches here then!!! Austerity measures??? Ha!!

[andara]

What a great website this is.

Sorry that I am coming to this debate late in the day, but I have just been checking my water bills for the year.

I, too, was charged the minimum amount (2.01) for 5 successive months and then hammered in September and October nearly all of the charges being at the highest tariff. (and no doubt timed to coincide with the hike in the IVA, which I guess will eventually be applied retrospectively).

My villa manager has so far failed to acknowledge that there is anything untoward here and merely says that he can only go with what is on the invoice.

It is unclear to me whether any of you have had a successful outcome after challenging the Camara. If not I would be very keen to join forces and seek a legal solution.

My villa is near the water tower in Sesmarias, and I am aware that there were quite significant disruptions to the water supply in August. Only after this did my bills go stratospheric. So it could well be down to both the Camar's incompetent (or cynical) bill managment and the meter spinning due to air in the system, but it would be very difficult to prove this.

I would be grateful for your updates.

[widge]

What a great website this is.

Sorry that I am coming to this debate late in the day, but I have just been checking my water bills for the year.

I, too, was charged the minimum amount (2.01) for 5 successive months and then hammered in September and October nearly all of the charges being at the highest tariff. (and no doubt timed to coincide with the hike in the IVA, which I guess will eventually be applied retrospectively).

My villa manager has so far failed to acknowledge that there is anything untoward here and merely says that he can only go with what is on the invoice.

It is unclear to me whether any of you have had a successful outcome after challenging the Camara. If not I would be very keen to join forces and seek a legal solution.

My villa is near the water tower in Sesmarias, and I am aware that there were quite significant disruptions to the water supply in August. Only after this did my bills go stratospheric. So it could well be down to both the Camar's incompetent (or cynical) bill managment and the meter spinning due to air in the system, but it would be very difficult to prove this.

I would be grateful for your updates.

I live near the water tower too - on the "Country Club" & my bills are fairly predictable in that as soon as we turn on the irrigation the bills rocket.

So this year it went......


€
May 30
June 36
July 14
August 495
September 127

The bill is one month in arrears of consumption so August = all July & probably some of June.

[andara]

Widge, it's unclear whether you consider your bill to be accurate. I would suggest that a monthly charge of 500 + Euros was inaccurate unless you have a huge garden, and follows the same pattern that others have been experiencing.

The bills generally cover the 15th month 1 to 15th month 2 and are billed in month 3.

Just for information, my charges have been:

March 0
April 0
May 0
June 0
July 0
Aug 47.83
Sep 160.54
Oct 278.73
Nov 450.38

[alf1956]

hello andrea,your water consumption appears to be a little strange?you have higher water bills in the winter/wet months ?unless you were not in your property in the early months of the year i do find them strange