In all the homes, premises or offices that we manage, we usually have a meter that measures the consumption of drinking water. However, it is possible that, even consuming a constant average value, a water bill is much higher than previous occasions.

If it just happened to you, you're in the right place to fix it!

We are going to explain to you how you can claim it from your company in a very easy way. Keep reading!

Why I received a higher water bill

There can be several reasons:

• A leak in the interior installation
• A poorly closed tap
• The toilet tank has become clogged
• The meter has broken down
• The company had not given you a real reading for a long time, and now they charge you all at once

Ways to prevent a high water bill

Although in most cases the volume recorded by the water meter is correct, you may get a higher water bill than your actual consumption. But is this something that can be prevented? Yes!

To prevent the surprise of receiving a higher than expected bill, and as long as you have a reading counter with time recording, you can review the last few days and check that the supply is correct and, as a result, there is no abnormal consumption taking place.

But what if you don't have a reading counter with time recording? In this case, you have to look at the counter for 2 to 4 hours and check what is happening.

To give you an idea, this is what happens when You have all the taps turned off and your counter continues to run. As you can see, it rolls with a very low flow rate (approximately 0.5 litres per minute) but it keeps rolling, which after all is what matters.

How can you check that you don't have a water leak

To check that you don't have any leaks:

1. Turn off all the taps and water outlets in your house
2. Record the meter reading (or take a picture)
3. Stay 2/4 hours without using water
4. Recheck the meter. If it has moved, You have a leak.

‍If it's a meter fault, do the following:

1. Turn off the general water tap in the entire house.
2. Record the meter reading (or take a picture)
3. If in 2/4 hours it has moved, is that The counter is broken, since there is no water circulating.

How to avoid surprises on your water bill

To avoid surprises with your water bill, we recommend that you check the meter periodically, although there are also devices that let you know when the consumption is higher than expected. However, the price of these is quite high.

Another option is to have good home insurance that covers any type of pipe breakage, although I already tell you that the vast majority have such coverage excluded and only focus on those that occur inside the house, which are detected immediately.

Claim water bills for accidental high consumption

If you've received a high water bill, follow these steps:

1. Do the tests on the run, which we have explained to you above.
2. Contact your company of water and explain the situation to him.
3. if This is an escape, call a specialized person to repair it.
4. With the repair bill you can claim to the water company that refill up to 2 invoices, but beware, make sure it's properly repaired because if a third bill comes you might have to pay it in full or if you have another leak in less than 2 years, too.
5. You will receive the corrected bill with your actual consumption (in most cases). Some water companies are more flexible in this regard, while others tend to be stricter.

Claim water bills due to a meter failure

If the tests tell you that the meter is faulty, this is unusual, but it could be. In that case, follow these steps:

1. Contact your water company and explain the situation
2. if this is a malfunction of the meter, The water service company will send you a technician.
3. You will receive the corrected bill with your actual or approximate consumption.

Claim water bills for incorrect estimated readings

If the high bill is due to the fact that they haven't read your meter in a while, you'll have to pay it.

1. Contact your water company and explain the situation
2. You can ask them to pay this bill in instalments, if you couldn't accept it.
3. You will receive bills with your consumption for the period plus the settlement of the debt.

In conclusion, there are several reasons that can lead to an increase in your water bill, and you have to proceed differently depending on what it is.

What I recommend, if you don't want to waste time, is that you let a specialized professional in this type of management, he is responsible for processing the claim for your bill for you (and then I tell you everything in a few words).

On the Selectra website, you can find more information about how to claim an excessive charge for electricity or natural gas.

Polaroo, is a comprehensive solution for the management of supplies such as water, electricity, gas, internet, etc. of all types of real estate assets (homes, offices, premises, industrial buildings, etc.). When we talk about management, we refer to taking care of all incidents for you (registrations, cancellations, changes, complaints), and to providing you with a platform where you can monitor your consumption, thanks to the digitization of invoices of each service contracted in your properties automatically.