I wondered if anyone knew whether SAUR has an English speaking telephone line. We’ve just been sent a second invoice for a huge amount this year despite the house not being lived in for 2 years !! Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.
Here’s the website… which is actually very useful…especially the questions/responses page… although I cannot see an English speaking line… sorry.
If you open an on-line account (top RHS of the page) you can amend estimations and all sorts of stuff…
Have they actually read the meter or are they estimating?
Thank you Stella. We have an online account but the invoice doesn’t say whether it’s an estimate or reading. We have a feeling that water was stolen during last summer and since then we’ve heard of other people who have had the same thing happen when they weren’t there. The last bill was 2400e and this one is 1200e, both this year.
Saur on line, have their bills available in pdf format …
I opened July 2017 and it definitely says “estimé”
The December one then give the actual reading and instead of “estimé” it says… “est”…
The July bill is estimated at around half the previous annual consumption… which, in your case, seems to make sense if the previous bill (Dec) was twice this current one…
When you/or someone visits… do you read your meter and check the figures?
Have you done a “check” that there are no leaks your side of the meter???
Sorry for the delay in replying, my father has been in hospital.
Thank you so much for your help, your info on the estimation being half of the last bill was really useful. We got a friend to read the meter as we’re in the UK and it was only 8m3 more than the last reading !!!
I’ve now put in the correct reading online and I’ll see what happens…will they believe us or not as they’ve ignored my email telling them the house is not lived in.
We’ll definitely be checking the readings from now on. My husband checked there were no leaks and there weren’t, that’s how we came to the sad assumption that someone had helped themselves. We have a feeling we know who it was, the neighbours son is verbally aggressive, his father is fine but I think he hates the English.
Thank you so much for your help.
Leigh
Hi Leigh… sorry to hear about your Dad… hope he is on the mend. 
Re Water… how can anyone “help themselves”… the water supply should be turned off (at your end) as close to the water meter as possible… and again indoors as a belt and braces. … check this out !!
A reasonable thought: If you are to be absent for a really long time… it might be worth asking SAUR to turn off the “tap” from their end (somewhere in the road outside your place, I reckon).
Making friends with your SAUR local-man can be worth its weight in gold. … especially once he realises that there really seems to be a problem with figures… and someone may have been “stealing” water.
You can send me a private message anytime, if you need help.
Thanks Stella, he’s 91 and has several health problems but he’s kept as comfortable as possible.
When he leaves there my husband always turns off the water at the meter and inside the house but forgot just once to turn it off at both ends and that’s when it happened !!
I’ll look in into them turning it off and see what they say.
Thank you once again for your help, it’s much appreciated.
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It might be a viable option… as I say… if the house is to be empty for a year or so… all depends on the costs of course… but worth asking the question, especially after the “losses”
Turning the water off at the water meter won’t stop a determined thief if you have an outdoor tap. They can just switch the water back on when they want to use it.
Absolutely David… the “off” needs to be “before” the outside tap connection … and indoors (hidden somewhat)
the reason I suggest 2 “offs” is due to a friend once merrily turning off in the house … but the pipe between house and meter burst… and he lost lots and lots of expensive water… aaaaargh
But that is usually in an unlocked location. My outside tap is connected to the meter without going through the second valve inside the house.
Oh my… not got that here… goes into the house… then wherever it will but “after” the stopcock.
All the meters here are outside the properties/along the verges
Oh no, I’ll try and find out if that’s the case at our house. We have an outside tap but I don’t think it works, I’ll check. Thanks David.
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