Decision report 201104358

Summary
Mrs C complained that Business Stream had become the provider of her water and waste water services without her knowledge or consent. She said that they had not entered into any contract with her and had not provided quotations (in advance or later) regarding the cost. They then started billing her, going back two years to the date when her business moved into the premises in question. She did not consider she should have to pay, given that she had not chosen them as her provider and that it had taken so long for them to contact her.

Our investigation found no evidence that Business Stream had acted wrongly. When the business moved into the premises, water services were provided but no arrangement was made to pay for them. From the correspondence that Mrs C provided, it was clear that Business Stream had acted correctly and had correctly stated the position to her in their letters. Where no provider is chosen, a default provider, in this case, Business Stream, is put in place. No contract with or agreement by the consumer is required for Business Stream to take on the supply. Business Stream are also able to charge the occupant back to when the business moved in (although they do not charge earlier than 1 April 2008). They do not provide quotations to the consumer about what those charges will be, but had correctly explained the charging basis to Mrs C. Finally, we found that it is the occupant's responsibility to find out about their water supply arrangements when they move into premises.