20 September 2007
A water company has apologised to a man from Eastbourne after he received incorrect bills stating he owed £400.
Trevor Martin from Sovereign Harbour was charged £220 for water last April by his water provider South East Water, the Eastbourne Herald reports.
A representative who came to look at Mr Martin's water meter apparently told him that his bill should not have been more than £50.
Mr Martin received a red reminder letter about his unpaid bill two weeks later, which he was told by the water company to ignore, however he then received another bill notice for £433.
"It's an absolute joke. I heard loads of other people are receiving high bills," Mr Martin told the newspaper.
However, South East Water has now admitted the mistakes were due to to a meter which calculates water consumption for another property on Mr Martin's road being incorrectly installed on his own property's water supply pipe.
"We would like to sincerely apologise to Mr Martin for the difficulties he has experienced in resolving his high water bill," it said.
The company has suspended the outstanding amount owed and is also making arrangements to carry out further investigations to accurately determine Mr Martin's water consumption.
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