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Case ref:201202015
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Date:January 2013
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Body:Business Stream Ltd
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Sector:Water
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Outcome:Not upheld, no recommendations
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Subject:policy/administration
Summary
Mr C complained that Business Stream had not notified his business of high water consumption after his meter was read. He did not learn of it until he received the bill early the following month.
The reason for the high consumption turned out to be a water leak on his side of the water pipework, and, therefore, his responsibility to repair. Mr C considered that, if Business Stream had notified him promptly, he would have learnt of the leak earlier and could have reduced the consumption by repairing the leak.
Our investigation found that Business Stream's written policy was that they would try to notify customers where usage was significantly higher than usual. In this case, we were satisfied that the consumption was not significantly above previous readings but that, even if it had been, Business Stream's policy did not give any guarantee of notification. We did not uphold the complaint, as we found that Business Stream had not acted unreasonably in not notifying Mr C of the reading earlier.