A Wootton man is saving families hundreds of pounds after he found a newly backdated rebate published by Southern Water, which could secure an extra £50 per annum for households paying for surface water drainage.
Darren Hopkins, a long-time Wootton resident and money-savvy Southern Water activist, has found a loophole in Islanders’ water bills which could see them issued a rebate of up to £50 a year for up to 6 years.
It has been found by Darren that the rebate, which is designed for households whose rainwater drains entirely into a private soakaway, natural watercourse or garden rather than directly into a public sewer, will see customers get back the portion of their bill that is paid for Southern Water to take the water away and treat.
Darren said that it was around 20 years ago that he had installed a water butt into his garden and therefore contacted Southern Water to request that he stop being charged for his wastewater. It was at this time that he found out his home is part of a private soakaway anyway and therefore should not be paying. After telling his neighbours whose rebates were also successful, the supplier changed their position and agreed that customers should not be paying for the treatment of wastewater from roofs and driveways if it runs into a private soakaway.
He said:
“I saw that Southern Water have recently made this public on their website, so I thought, let’s get a leaflet printed. I went down to Wootton Parish Council to check with them, and we concluded that there are an awful lot of houses that could potentially be on a soakaway.
“We thought it was over 1000, and then there are 2 roads that we revisited that we think are part of it too, so there could be even more.”
Along with the local Parish Council, Darren has created a leaflet which he has been hand-delivering through the doors of Wootton properties with easy-to-follow instructions on how to tell if your wastewater goes into a private soakaway or not.
Darren originally posted his findings on the Anything and Everything Wotton Bridge Facebook page, informing residents of his findings, where he said:
“Within 3 days we had somebody who had got their 6-year rebate. It was just brilliant.
“At a time when everybody is struggling, to be able to give people an opportunity to save money and stick 2 fingers up at a company that does not care about us is quite good.”
Darren has found the simplest and most effective way to tell whether your home is connected to a public sewer network or is a private soakaway: the layout of your drainage pipe. If the pipe coming down from the gutter goes directly into the ground, then it is a private soakaway, but if the pipe hangs over a metal or plastic grate, then your water goes into a public sewer network.
As of the time of publishing, households across the Island are charged a fixed standing charge of £50 for all unmetered households and standard household metres. Once the form, outlining details about your property, has been filled out and approved, the charge will be completely removed from future bills, meaning you only need to complete the form once.
However, Island Echo understands that you have to have lived at the property for 6 years or more before you can apply for the rebate.
When asked why he has gone to so much effort to inform the public of this, Darren said:
“I have a lot of guilt; I suffer from mental health issues, which I have had for many, many years, and I had a lot of guilt from being an idiot. So now I like to do stuff for my community.
“I am very focused on trying to do stuff for my community, and I have a drive to help my neighbours.
“There is part of this that is me getting enjoyment because I have a bee in my bonnet about Southern Water; it feels good to be taking money out of their pockets, but it is a community thing.
“Everybody should know about this, and everybody should be able to save money.”
You can find out more about the form and its qualifying factors here.
