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	<title>Meh Blog! &#187; water</title>
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		<title>The Great United Utilities Rip Off</title>
		<link>http://www.codexsoftware.co.uk/blog/rants/the-great-united-utilities-rip-off/</link>
		<comments>http://www.codexsoftware.co.uk/blog/rants/the-great-united-utilities-rip-off/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:16:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>arcana</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united utilities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.codexsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=63</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[United Utilites have informed me that they&#8217;re increasing my monthly payments to £88.50 a month for my water.  I live in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire which receives over 1200mm of rain every year.  It&#8217;s raining here almost all the time.  As I look out the window now, I see the usual relentless drizzle.  Grey, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="size-medium wp-image-68 alignright" title="United Utilities Logo" src="http://www.codexsoftware.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/UnitedUtilitiesB-300x126.gif" alt="United Utilities Logo" width="300" height="126" />United Utilites have informed me that they&#8217;re increasing my monthly payments to £88.50 a month for my water.  I live in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire which receives over 1200mm of rain every year.  It&#8217;s raining here almost all the time.  As I look out the window now, I see the usual relentless drizzle.  Grey, boring, non-stop rain&#8230;</p>
<p><span id="more-63"></span></p>
<p>Let&#8217;s compare this with somewhere that really suffers from a water shortage like&#8230;hmm&#8230; Cyprus!  <a title="Cyprus Rainfall" href="http://www.cyprus-property-sales-resales.com/Cyprus_Real_Estate_Sales/Cyprus_Real_Estate_Weather.htm" target="_blank">The average annual rainfall for the entire island (including the mountains) is 500mm</a>.  In Cyprus I could expect to pay around €30 a quarter, or €10 a month which is about £8.80 a month.  So 10 times cheaper really and although the stuff does also fall out of the sky there, there&#8217;s so little of it that <a title="Cyprus to import water" href="http://www.news24.com/Content/World/News/1073/a3e45b1a65b94b8e97eb6e9ec5e1a28e/22-04-2008-05-49/Cyprus_to_import_water_" target="_blank">they have to import it from other countries</a>.</p>
<p>But let&#8217;s forget about other countries, and just look at the United Kingdom.  Recently on the news they were making a fuss about the <a title="Ofwat calls for lower water rates" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8164243.stm" target="_blank">average water bill rising to over £300 a year</a>! £300?  I&#8217;d kill to have my bill lowered from £964.28 to £300!</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve rang up United Utilities and they&#8217;ve told me they won&#8217;t remove my water meter and let me pay a standard rate.  They&#8217;ve told me I&#8217;m not allowed to remove it myself either.  There&#8217;s no choice of alternative supplier and if I don&#8217;t pay the bill then they&#8217;ll cut off my water.  They operate more like a Mafia.</p>
<p>They&#8217;re not even good at what they do.  A few hot days in summer and they&#8217;ll declare a drought thanks to leaky pipes.</p>
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