LETTER: Forced to have a water meter

I am an Eastbourne resident who on January 7 received a pre-printed (not even personalised) leaflet from South East Water informing me that on January 23 they would be installing a water meter.

I immediately rung them to tell them I did not want a meter and was virtually told ‘tough, we can do as we please and there’s nothing you can do about it’.

I also complained that I had not been given sufficient notice and was told ‘we don’t actually have to give you any notice’.

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With all our other vital utilities the Government has sold off we do get (albeit not a lot) a choice. We can shop around, switching providers when a better deal is offered.

Not so with our water supplier. We are stuck with whoever has purchased our life-saving liquid. In South East Water’s case that would be the French and the Australians. So, the £42.5 million profit they made last year doesn’t even stay in the country.

Now, we need homes and we need water. Last year 240,000 new homes were built. The last reservoir built was in 1989. Amazingly the last reservoir for this region, Bewl Water, was built in 1975. South East Water also bought out Kent Water so now supply to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire.

So, why are they not spending some of their huge profits on new reservoirs? We live on an island with a huge amount of rainfall. If money were re-invested in new reservoirs then we would not be having this problem.

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Don’t get me wrong, for some a water meter makes perfect sense and as such should be an OPTION not forced upon those of us that neither want nor think it is correct that our individual rights, something we pride ourselves on in UK, are being infringed.

I am currently starting a petition to the Government and would ask everyone to look out for this as soon as it is up and running. I will be posting updates on my Facebook page kim dack in the meantime.

KIM DACK

Glynde Avenue

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