High water consumption letters sent to Dordogne residents in error

A reader from Dordogne has warned homeowners to be vigilant for letters from their water company mistakenly suggesting excessive consumption.

Maureen Hemingway-McLeod, who lives near Verteillac, received just such a letter from Sogedo, which supplies water to many communes in Dordogne. She said other households had received similar communications.

“It does seem to be a problem in this area. The company changed last year and installed new water meters. I suspect there has been a glitch from that.”

Mrs Hemingway-McLeod’s letter claimed she had used four cubic metres in a week.

'We Checked every tap'

“That would be enough to fill half my swimming pool, and I was alarmed because it would mean I had a major leak,” she said.

“When a friend came round, we checked every tap and connection and found nothing amiss.

“We then went to the meter and it was not moving. We knew it was still working though, because the dial started turning as soon as we opened a tap.”

Mrs Hemingway-McLeod’s meter is located close to her house and she said meter readers always knock on the door when they need to look at it because of her dogs. However, no one had read the meter for over a year.

In the letter, Sogedo stated that if the over-consumption was due to a leak, Mrs Hemingway-McLeod could ask for a reduced bill as long as a professional plumber provided a statement that it had been repaired.

When she contacted Sogedo herself, they initially insisted that she had a leak. It was only when she gave a meter reading that their attitude changed.

“It was obvious that the numbers I gave did not match those on their system, but the meter number on the letter matched my meter,” she said.

“It makes me think there is a problem with the system and people should be warned.”

It is not the first time Mrs Hemingway-McLeod has had issues with water readings. A second home she owns in Dordogne, part of a copropriété, also had to be checked after the building manager received a letter warning of a water leak. Again, nothing was found and the anomaly was never explained.

She has since heard of similar cases, including in the nearby commune of La Tour-Blanche. 

In another instance, she said a 90-year-old French woman received a water bill for €2,000 and immediately paid it because the demand appeared to be genuine.

Sogedo did not reply to requests for an interview.

The Connexion has covered similar cases of people hit with unexpectedly large water bills, including a reader from Brittany who only discovered a leak under their terrace – undetected for over a year – when they received a bill for thousands of euros. 

Another, with a second home in Gers, said their meter had not been read for five years, during which time a new water supplier was appointed for the commune. 

The new company claimed it could not access the meter, something the homeowners disputed through their lawyer.

France’s loi Warsmann obliges water companies to alert customers immediately if they detect abnormal water consumption.

If customers carry out repairs within one month of receiving notification, and manage to stop the leak, they can be charged no more than double their normal bill.

Almost all properties in France have individual water meters, the vast majority of which are read manually, usually once a year. 

Communes must pay to install automatic meter readers, and few are willing to bear the cost.

It is good practice to read the water meter yourself regularly in case of disputes. If you are concerned about leaks, check that the little ‘star’ wheel in the centre of the meter is not turning when all taps are turned off.