Eastbourne club claims water firm has charged it for supply to flats above
The Devonshire Club is based under flats in Westdown House in Hartington Place. Graham Robinson, deputy chair, said the group uses around 12-13 cubic metres of water per month.
However, bills this year say it was using 102 cubic metres. This caused the club to hire a specialist plumber to investigate. He concluded the group has been billed for the water meter that serves more than 30 flats above the club. According to Mr Robinson, bills went up from £50 to more than £400 earlier this year. The club has calculated it is owed around £2,500 by South East Water but has had no response for months.
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Hide AdIn a letter to South East Water CEO David Hinton, Mr Robinson said: “It appears that, for some unknown reason, you are now charging us for the water consumed by the 30+ flats in Westdown House as opposed to that used by the club, which is less than a tenth of the flats usage.
“Something occurred at the start of the year as that is when things went adrift and there appears to be a new stopcock in the pavement, which controls our supply, but there is no meter attached – instead we are being charged by the readings from the adjacent meter, which supplies the flats. As the freeholder of the Westdown House property we feel we should have been consulted on any matter which altered the supply to the residents or the club. Clearly this has not been done.”
Steve Andrews, head of central operations at South East Water, said: “We are investigating the concerns raised by the Devonshire Club with regards to their bill. A technician visited yesterday (December 1) to assess the situation. We have confirmed that the flats are on a separate meter to the club, and the technician also located a potential leak on the customer’s supply. This is being scheduled for an urgent repair. In this case, we are the wholesale provider of fresh water, and so we are also working with Devonshire Park Club’s retailer to resolve the issue regarding the amount owing in the account.”