With reference to the article headlined "Water meter in every house" (The Argus, April 12), I would to like to say this is a good idea in principle but I can't.

I have lived at my present address since December 1990 and when I moved into the property it already had a water meter.

Up until 2005 I received two water bills a year without fail, one in June and one in December. However, in December 2006 the bill failed to arrive as usual. I waited until February this year and telephoned the Southern Water office explaining I had not received my bill for December 2006.

The woman on the telephone asked me if I could read the water meter myself. I informed her I was disabled and unable to bend by myself.

She checked my records and told me the meter was due to be read in September 2007, making my present bill some 15 months in one go.

I politely replied no way did I want a bill that big in one go and asked her to get somebody out to read the meter. The young lady told me she would make a note of my request on my records and ask the reading inspector to call.

By the end of February after not hearing anything I sent an email to customer accounts. Needless to say I got no reply and was so angry ended up sending the email a further three times in one go but still got no reply from them.

On March 26, 2007, I finally got a friend to read it for me, not an easy job with the meter at least a foot down in the pavement and covered in dust. We telephoned the reading to Southern Water the moment it was read by us and were told the amount and that a bill would be with me in a few days. Well one week went by followed by a second and the bill finally arrived on April 11.

The purpose of this letter is to say that according to The Argus report only about 28 per cent of homes in England and Wales at present have a meter leaving 72 per cent without.

So if Southern Water and the other water companies do get water meters in all these homes, I just hope they will provide the water meter readers to read them and not expect the elderly or disabled to go out and read the meter themselves.

Perhaps the regular reading of the meters is something the South East England Regional Assembly, Government and public should be consulted over and this issue thoroughly debated before they start putting meters in every home.

  • Kevin Hunt, Portland Street, Brighton