Water Cost in the Service Charge

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Hi everyone – I have a query about the £41,000 water element to the 2012 budget (and 2011 – I don' t have previous ones to hand, unfortunately).
Can anybody tell me what this is for?
As far as I am aware we all already pay our own water bills to RMG for our own flats, so I am bit confused by this large annual water charge that goes through the service charge too.
Thank you!

[imported_post]

Hi,

You are correct that each flat pays its own water bill.  There are two elements to the water billing, the standing charge for the pipework and delivery of service and the actually charge for the water.  I moved the standing charge element from the individual bills to the service charge account in 2011 to aid the cash flow of the water accountant.  The standing charge is around 6k per year for the development.  Thus if you look at the budget there is a 41,000 entry for water which is offset against a figure of sales to the tune of 33,000.  Thus the actual amount of the water on the service charge is the difference, 8,000.  This is slightly more than the actual standing charge due to wanting to be prudent as Thames Water sets their rates in April, which is after our budget is drawn up. 
I hope that makes sense.  If I haven't explained it clearly enough then do come back to me.

All the best
Simon.

[imported_post]

Simon

When we moved into RQ in 2008, our landlord added £20 per month on to the rent for the water bills.

He has never shown us the bills, but now wants to raise it from £20 to £30 per month. If what you are saying is that in 2011 the standing charge was removed from the individual water bills, then it would appear to me that our water bills should have gone down or at least stayed the same.

Perhaps you could confirm that as a result of removing the standing charge, individual water bills did in fact go down in 2011.

Thanks

Andrew

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Hi Andrew

I can confirm that as a result of moving the standing charge to the service charge the individual bills dropped, as they only included the water used.

As an example my own bill fell from 235 to 181 for 2010 and 2011.  However there was corresponding and larger increase in the service charge bill.

Hope that helps.

Simon

[imported_post]

Thank you Simon, that is very helpful.

[imported_post]

Thank you Simon, very clear and helpful

Hi,

You are correct that each flat pays its own water bill.  There are two elements to the water billing, the standing charge for the pipework and delivery of service and the actually charge for the water.  I moved the standing charge element from the individual bills to the service charge account in 2011 to aid the cash flow of the water accountant.  The standing charge is around 6k per year for the development.  Thus if you look at the budget there is a 41,000 entry for water which is offset against a figure of sales to the tune of 33,000.  Thus the actual amount of the water on the service charge is the difference, 8,000.  This is slightly more than the actual standing charge due to wanting to be prudent as Thames Water sets their rates in April, which is after our budget is drawn up. 
I hope that makes sense.  If I haven't explained it clearly enough then do come back to me.

All the best
Simon.

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