Installation difficulties
We have had two installations by Cambridge water on new properties in Cambridge. Of all the utilities, these people are easily the hardest to deal with. They charge admin fees even for the quote, their costs are the highest, they took four months to complete the job, they dug up the main road (as they have given up on worm bore technology) and used 23 separate people to hook up one 25mm pipe. After the install they then charge additional "infrastructure fees" and amend the bill upwards.
Cambridge Water Company purport to operate as a private company - they are joint owned/ managed by South Staffs Water - which means nothing other than your dealing with an even larger bloated bureaucracy that effectively has a monopoly over all water supplies in the area. The new MD Mr Willicott appears to have had little impact in terms of operational efficiencies of reduction of costs. I would be happy to point him in the right direction...
Communications - generally erratic and poor - with some exceptions; Why not appoint one person to liaise with the customer? ... the fees justify that much.
Water supply: So if you have a water meter - (I don't think you even get a choice these days) and have a leak, they charge you for the water AND the sewerage disposal price even though the leak of clean water is into the ground. Wouldn't this normally be called racketeering....?
Future - I'm not sure what other water companies are like, but thank god I'm moving out of Cambridge waters' patch. They deserve a good dose of economic reality and proper competition in their operating area to reduce costs.
