I have a contract (of sorts) with United Utilities and pay £250 or whatever for our water and sewage services.
Apparently -I cannot use my hosepipe until there is a sustained period of biblical rainfall - or face a £1000 fine.
I haven't received a letter from UT explaining this. I've read it on the news / heard it in the canteen.
Surely - I should expect a reduction in water rates or a rebate?
If Scottish Power said that I couldn't use my iron/Bessemer Converter/immersion heater because of an electron shortage (?) I wouldn't pay the same by direct debit.
WTF is going on here as I scramble for cover from yet another torrential deluge?
Arseholes on toast.
DS
I'm sure they'll put you on a meter if you ask them.
Are you in the North West Derek? I'm up in Lancaster tomorrow and can make sure I come up with a full bladder if that would help the region?
I'm pretty sure that they don't have to provide you with water so you can waste it on your Hyacinths. It's probably more important that they make such 'cut backs' so they can provide you with clean fresh drinking water. If not I'm sure they can put you on the stand pipes at the end of you street.
you can use your hosepipe if you attach it to a water butt which you fill up with a bucket which is perfectly within the rules!
EDIT: on a more serious note, if you haven't had any notification regarding the ban from the supplier I would be inclined to believe that its not in force and point that out to them when your neighbour grasses on you!
I like a bowser as much as the next dehydrated customer. I don't want to water anything - I just want to spend 20 secs blasting the shite off my bike!
clearly, water is scarce, so it's worth more.
X
Which you can do, you just can't water your garden.
Rant Fail.
In the event of a hose pipe ban, I may dig out the Dirtworker for that job. 😉I just want to spend 20 secs blasting the shite off my bike!
Just use your hosepipe quietly during the night when no one's looking.
You can wash your bike, there's nothing wrong with that.
Listen, if you're unhappy about us still providing water during periods of drought we can always turn it off. Would you like us to turn off taking your poo away too?
I twittered UU and it is legal to wash your bike, your patio and driveway with a hose during a hosepipe ban. Its only really to stop gardens being watered and car washing.
See [url= http://twitter.com/unitedutilities ]here[/url] username 'propergnarly'.
There is a moral issue but the reservoirs have been well topped up recently so I sprayed my bike down tonight with gay abandon (-:
Listen, if you're unhappy about us still providing water during periods of drought we can always turn it off. Would you like us to turn off taking your poo away too?
Are you Customer Services for United Utilities samuri ?
And if so, is that the bog standard response to whingeing customers ?
Surely - I should expect a reduction in water rates or a rebate?
you already have the discount, the service is based on a 1 in 20 year hosepipe ban, your tariif is set accordingly
If Scottish Power said that I couldn't use my iron/Bessemer Converter/immersion heater because of an electron shortage (?) I wouldn't pay the same by direct debit
they do, you do.... do you actually think you get 240V?, expect 230ish
what gets me is that since the ban it has been raining, so why on earth do you want to use your hosepipe to water you garden or wash your car? ..... go and ride your bike and find something else to get upset about that actually matters, like, "what tyres for summer mud?" 😉
I am sure that if the electricity companies had a shortage of electricity then they would ration it.
Oh hang on, it did happen. In the early 70s during the miners strikes.
Water is a little more complex than the electricity grid - it cannot be moved from one part of the country to another. You may see a couple of days of heavy rainfall and assume that a drought is over, but this is not really going to make much difference to overall resources. Hosepipe bans are not something that utility companies introduce lightly - they have to be allowed by the regulator and incur penalties for the company.
Why would you expect a rebate / reduction in water rates? If less water is used (and on a meter) then your bill will reduce. If you are paying rates then you are likely getting the best deal anyway (unless you are a low user).
I* actually wrote up the electricity rota disconnection schedules for Sheffield during the 2007 floods. Didn't take it lightly, didn't enjoy telling people they would be off, but if we hadn't done the rota disconnection the network would have burnt out and everyone would have been off. So yes when there is a lack of electricity capacity, then in everyone's interests it gets rationed.
Strangely people actually rang in and thanked us for taking responsible action in the face of a ridiculous situation, and making sure that everyone who could got some electric power every day.
*as in me, personally, on my laptop. Came up with the basis and rationale on which it would be done and specified what feeders in what time period.
Don't worry you'll be getting brownouts within the next 5 years.
You can of course just blame the French and German governments as they own our utility companies.
Epic rant fail on misunderstanding the legalities of a hosepipe ban. Ace 🙂
Listen, if you're unhappy about us still providing water during periods of drought we can always turn it off.
Ah, I see United Utilities customer care department frequents STW.
Listen lads, if the water doesn't fall from the sky, then the reservoirs don't fill up. It takes more than a week or so of wet weather to fill up some really ****ing big reservoirs that have been running dry all year.
Try exerting some self control. You're all ugly and fat so it's pointless trying to make yourselves look attractive by washing yourselves so don't even bother and save water into the bargain.[1]
[1] UU Customer service booklet response number 1.
Lol @ Samurai
Just leave the bike outside in the biblical rainstorms, best if upside down IME, my car's certainly looking cleaner after the last 3 days of driving.
I'm camping this weekend so I fully expect the reservoiras to get a good topping up over Saturday and Sunday.
Mountain bikers moaning about lack of rain ! Whatever next ?
Marmoset, do you leave your car upside down when you park it?
Lol 🙂
I think the utility company can charge whatever they want based on the terms of the contract. If you don't like it then switch. Simples.
there is a shortage on electric. our ageing, shit and privatised power plants cant handle peak demand, and therefore leccy is bought in from Europe. theres no france/uk water pipe to take care of extra demand in times of shortage.
Rubbish rant, but top marks for "arseholes on toast" 😆
Good work that man.
Samuri, **** computers man, you should be the UU media spokesperson.
We have no water and you want to wash your bike ...it is really important to prioritise water use in times like this thanks for your community minded action in wasting some more water.
Get a SS and leave it dirty just like winter
+ everything Samurai says
I washed my (road) bike with a cloth and about 2l of water in a bucket. If it's muddy, leave it to dry, flake it off and then wipe it down.
It can all be done.
Bike wash: 5m with a bucket here, it's not killed me yet.
Hmmm. That was a pants rant.
So I can give my bike a quick blast. That's all I ask.
I was only miffed because I'd bought a fancy new attachment for my hose just before the ban came in 😳
Stick your atachment on your shower and wash your bike inside.
I think the issue is we should have plenty of spare water, other parts of the country which are dryer have because they have invested in the infrastructure be it pumping systems, extra capacity, bore holes etc. UU has just made profits on the back of being able to dump all it's sewage in the sea (until recently) and made the most of copious rainfall we usually have. Yes it is selfish to waste water when it's scarce but I don't think it's unreasonable for UU to make water scarcity in one of the wetest parts of Europe a thing of the past. It's supposed to be a free market, unfortunately I can't change my supplier.
On a side note hosepipe bans don't save much water anyway, it's just the first step on the legal process to installing standpipes 80
Better legislation is on the way to tighten up water you can use a hosepipe for during a ban, been on it's way since 2006 though.
I think the utility company can charge whatever they want based on the terms of the contract. If you don't like it then switch. Simples.
Not sure you can switch your water supplier.
stumpyjon - the whole conversation was being had in reverse two years ago when the south had hosepipe bans.
I think unless we want to be charged more for water we have to accept these restrictions on it use every now and again.
It always feels a bit 'off' using potable water for hosing the garden when I've got water butts I could be emptying instead.
Well on the other hand stumpyjon, if we put water prices up loads to pay for more storage and whatever (want any more valleys flooded?) when 90% of the time we just don't need it?
People would moan like hell then. All that's needed is a LITTLE TINY bit of common sense and not wasting it like it just doesn't matter, and we'll be fine - problem solved. We don't need an more investment, any higher bills and no more valleys need flooding.
other parts of the country which are dryer have because they have invested in the infrastructure be it pumping systems, extra capacity, bore holes etc
Companies are very limited in what they can invest in each 5 year AMP period.
The recent determination from OFWAT has been very harsh on proposed investments for all companies, even those ranked as the best / most efficient.
A free market for water is something that the government would like to see, but the practicalities of doing this are very complex. If it were to happen then you would likely still have the same water infrastructure and providing company, just an additional middleman somehow making money doing the billing.
The available water resources would not alter.
a big Scotland/England pipeline, gravity fed, going all the way to lundun.
one end in loch ness, the other in 'ammersmith. branches off it at each major conurbation.
easy
Just wish the victorians had done it, with cheap labour.
On the meter front, I was paying Thames Water £36 per month for a 3 bed house (only two people).
Got a water meter and am now paying £12 per month for my water and I now have a dishwasher as well that I never used to have. The meters aren't that bad.
no rain here, and no hosepipe ban either.
i have to leave the sprinkler on all night to ensure the lawn is the correct shade of green for high tea each saturday.
The geology of an area will to an extent dictate the type of water sources available in that area. My understanding is that soil/rock types in the north of the UK are good for collecting surface water in lakes/lochs/reservoirs. The SE is different and isn't good for forming reservoirs, though I suppose that you could make an artificial reservoir floor (cos the cost of that wouldn't put your water rates up much). However the geology of the SE is good at forming underground water reserves. Thus a lot of potable water resource "down there" comes from bore holes. You can't just go sticking a bore hole anywhere because the local reservoirs is low. Certain water works will have been granted permission to abstract from a river as and when stocks are low in the lake/reservoir.
As someone said. Wait till we start getting brown outs, I believe that this has gone on in parts of the US for quite a few years. Though of course as we only pay for electricity used you can at least feel happy that you aren't paying for what you haven't used. Until prices go up to pay for the new nuclear power stations. Or will the UK Government pay for those for the private companies to generate their electricity in?
You don't need a hose to wash your bike...thats what buckets are for. Don't need a hose for much really, most things that a hose can do can be done with a bucket or a watering can!
I expect they'll be flooding before long, then it'll turn out to be an average summer rainfall wise!
Last year I had the enormous privalidge of taking a group of kids to the arse end of Swaziland and installing a borehole & tank so a rural school could have running water for the first time. Went back this year & the school's orphange is now self-sufficient with food thanks to the irrigation they are running off the water supply and the kids are no longer spending 2hrs a day manually pumping and carrying water.
My attitude to water as a comodity has been changed by the experience.
as I said before perhaps UU are just rubbish 😉
the corollary of this thread is that actually you get a great service, as its so noticeable when its gone.
You could have an almost perfect service but it would be expensive.
You can't choose supplier yet (there are exceptions if you use more than 50 mega litres a year) but looks like you will in about 2 years. But just like electricity these people only bill and the actual commodity is no different and so if its not there, its not there.
Nicely put, convert. For those of us who were born / have lived / worked in the developing world, and/or work in the utilities, it certainly shapes how you think about water.
Rob's point about the service being notable when it's gone is spot on, and borne out by the research the water industry has been doing over the last 2-3 years, which shows very clearly that while (overall) people are reasonably prepared to pay their current bills and maybe even a small amount more for improvements to service, they would (rightly) expect one helluva compensation to accept any deterioration i.e. water and wastewater services have a very high value.
The 'overall' above needs taking into account though as there is a massive diversity of incomes, social perspectives, household budget priorities etc.
Welcome to the future ...
Enjoy your fuel / utilities whilst they're still there ...
[i]as I said before perhaps UU are just rubbish [/i]
Yep, that's the ofwat perspective too. But then ofwat also said that UU have made the biggest investment in the last year to addressing the issue than any other water company and that perspective will be the same in their next review.
In a couple of years time UU will be the best performing water company because of their extremely aggressive approach to rectifying the issue, mark my words.
The problem is that water is too cheap at the moment - there is bugger all incentive to install rainwater tanks etc when potable water is 1p a litre.
http://www.water.org.uk/home/resources-and-links/waterfacts/waterprices
a big Scotland/England pipeline, gravity fed, going all the way to lundun.one end in loch ness, the other in 'ammersmith. branches off it at each major conurbation.
Scotland's not actually higher than England just because it's at the top of the map. 😆
Loch Ness elevation: 15.8m
London elevation: 24m
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London