We all rely on a water meter reading as part of the settlement cost calculation, but how good is it?
To cut a long story short, a recent property purchase received a huge water bill after the first month so I checked out the meter. Well, first I had to dig it out of an overgrown muddy hole and it was obvious no-one had seen it in a long time.
A discussion with Watercare did not get far, the helpline just repeated the numbers on the bill as if they were gospel, so I asked for the meter reader's photos to verify the quantities and the photo showed... only weeds. Then there were more excuses but the gob-smacking statement was "an actual reading just means the guy went to the property, if the meter cannot be read we make an estimate" (=guess).
The special reading on settlement date was used by lawyers to calculate the vendor and buyer costs to the nearest cent, in fact it was hundreds of dollars wrong. And this appears to be normal procedure.
Anyone else encountered this? Or even suspected an 'actual reading' might not be fit for purpose?

masturbidder - 2021-05-08 21:48:00

How long has this been going on? Locally meters are read every 3 months. If the meter got covered you'd expect the owner to be advised. The plastic covers have metal so they can be detected.

pauldw - 2021-05-08 23:24:00

masturbidder wrote:

To cut a long story short,
"an actual reading just means the guy went to the property, if the meter cannot be read we make an estimate" (=guess).
?

Then clean it out and take a reading yourself and ask for them to come back

lythande1 - 2021-05-09 08:46:00

lythande1 wrote:

Then clean it out and take a reading yourself and ask for them to come back

Indeed.
But the problem is only seen two months later when a water bill comes in, and Watercare's meter-reading photos should verify the numbers but only show weeds and mud. So no-one knows what the true readings were (although they are listed as 'actual' on the bill) and the house settlement costs are hundreds of dollars wrong.

masturbidder - 2021-05-09 09:46:00

Had a Watercare actual reading for a commercial property with a $1800 invoice. I sent a pic with correct reading and invoice dropped to $70. They did credit but wonder what the meter reader was on?

mulch_king - 2021-05-09 10:34:00

masturbidder wrote:

Indeed.
But the problem is only seen two months later when a water bill comes in, and Watercare's meter-reading photos should verify the numbers but only show weeds and mud. So no-one knows what the true readings were (although they are listed as 'actual' on the bill) and the house settlement costs are hundreds of dollars wrong.

council pays.

gabbysnana - 2021-05-09 17:19:00

gabbysnana wrote:

council pays.

???

Council??

OH !

Ratepayers. Gotchya.

keys - 2021-05-09 17:35:00

gabbysnana wrote:

council pays.

try telling the council!

masturbidder - 2021-05-09 20:50:00

In my case, WaterCare failed to turn up at all on settlement day to take a meter reading when I was selling.

It was booked in advance, and they repeatedly told my lawyer they had taken a final reading, and they even charged me an additional fee for doing it. It took some effort to get them to admit they'd done nothing at all, and it was a bit of a fight to get the fee refunded. It was only a small amount of money, but I was adamant they weren't going to charge me for work they hadn't done.

My lawyer was furious with them for giving her incorrect information, and I found them very frustrating to deal with. My final charges were (eventually) all based on estimates.

pickledsprouts - 2021-05-10 09:04:00

Surely Watercare are a commercial organisation, so to list a reading as 'actual' on an account if it is not, is surely a breach of the Fair Trading Act. They should not only have to put it right, but should be fined accordingly.

rpvr - 2021-05-17 15:17:00

Went to a property where there were 10 water meters feeding the 10 houses. I had to turn the water off to fix a tap. Opened the lid and counted 9 water meters, but as I'd left a tap running to identify which meter, I could hear something spinning round. The meter I was after was buried in soil, not even the tap was showing, so how have they ever read it.

blueviking - 2021-05-18 07:18:00

The member deleted this message.

hazelnut2 - 2021-05-21 17:02:00

masturbidder wrote:

We all rely on a water meter reading as part of the settlement cost calculation, but how good is it?
To cut a long story short, a recent property purchase received a huge water bill after the first month so I checked out the meter. Well, first I had to dig it out of an overgrown muddy hole and it was obvious no-one had seen it in a long time.
A discussion with Watercare did not get far, the helpline just repeated the numbers on the bill as if they were gospel, so I asked for the meter reader's photos to verify the quantities and the photo showed... only weeds. Then there were more excuses but the gob-smacking statement was "an actual reading just means the guy went to the property, if the meter cannot be read we make an estimate" (=guess).
The special reading on settlement date was used by lawyers to calculate the vendor and buyer costs to the nearest cent, in fact it was hundreds of dollars wrong. And this appears to be normal procedure.
Anyone else encountered this? Or even suspected an 'actual reading' might not be fit for purpose?

Ooooh, that's really good Fair Go fodder! They'd really get their teeth into this problem! There could well be hundreds of people in the same situation! Am really looking forward to seeing it on their program!

hazelnut2 - 2021-05-21 17:03:00