Water Meter thefts

Our community has suffered a significant number of water meter cupboard door thefts from unoccupied properties ...probably to sell the metal for scrap, and also a number of actual water meters. In the UK the water meter is the responsibility of the authority, but not it seams here in Spain. Hidraqua charge 140 euros to replace it! The problem is, the cupboards can be opened easily and if we put a lock on it Hidraqua can' t read the meter. Has anyone any useful tips or sugestions?

devondave wrote:Our community has suffered a significant number of water meter cupboard door thefts from unoccupied properties ...probably to sell the metal for scrap, and also a number of actual water meters. In the UK the water meter is the responsibility of the authority, but not it seams here in Spain. Hidraqua charge 140 euros to replace it! The problem is, the cupboards can be opened easily and if we put a lock on it Hidraqua can' t read the meter. Has anyone any useful tips or sugestions?

On a similar topic it was said that if the police are informed of the theft and a police report is obtained then the water company will fix them with new doors. This has happened in some areas and doors have been replaced - It is the responsibility of the utility companies but they do need to be told and given a copy of the police report apparently. As for locks it is up to Hydraqua or whatever company to secure the doors to stop it happening again. It's not up to the householder as we pay the bills to them and they own and maintain their equipment, same as in the UK.

Jan

The totters are turfing out the street bins all day long looking for scrap.

We suffered from this a couple of weeks back, on our return to the Villa we found both the door and the meter had been taken.
On our way off the Urb to make a report, we actually met up with a local Police Car and showed them a picture on my 'Phone, their advise was
"We have reports of this in this area, as yet we do not see them, You need to speak to your water company, to register"



We queried to obtain a "Crime Reference Number" but we were told " It is not needed they know this is happening"
Water Company asked for 112 Euro to replace the meter "as we are responsible?", that was done that PM but still no door on the cupboard. so still awaiting the next Scrotbag to "Tat it in"




How the heck can we be responsible for something belonging to a Service Provider that is mounted on the road side wall of our property?

Regards


C and J

I'm sorry but I believe that much of this is a 'lost in translation' problem.
The utility companies are responsible for their equipment and in our area near Consum in Quesada it was reported that all the doors stolen had been replaced relatively quickly by the utility company.

The reason possibly could be that we have quite a few Spanish residents in our community and with their obvious ease of communication, that could be why these things get done as they should be.

I would definitely advise anyone to get a police report and say you need one, even if the police say you don't need one. It does appear from previous posts that those who don't get one have had to pay and those that get one haven't.

Jan