A RETIRED Wellington couple facing a £17,000 bill to pipe water into their home to have a hot shower have complained of ‘daylight robbery’.

Sandie Perkins and her disabled husband Antony have been carrying a boiled kettle upstairs to wash because of low pressure in the pipe serving their row of houses.

Mrs Perkins said the pipe was old and becoming blocked by ‘furring’, a build up of minerals, which meant that even downstairs the water almost stopped flowing when neighbours were running taps.

But, she was shocked after speaking to Wessex Water about replacing the pipe serving Shute Row, off South Street, and finding the cost could reach £17,000.

Mrs Perkins said the water firm told her the pipe would be about £1,000 per metre and she would have to hire contractors to carry out the work.

On top of which, she would have to pay about another £2,000 to Somerset Council for a traffic order to close South Street.

Mrs Perkins said £7,000 was being demanded as an up front payment even though it would take at least three months before the work could be done.

She said: “People should know how we are being ripped off by these corporations.

“It is time people in this country stood up to it, but people do not know how to.”

A Wessex Water spokesperson said the company was supporting Mr and Mrs Perkins to help resolve their issue as quickly as possible.

However, homeowners were responsible for water pipes on private property.

The spokesperson said pressure in the public water mains was ‘perfectly acceptable’ and advice had been given to the couple on how to improve their private pipework.

A Somerset Council spokesperson said the cost of traffic management arrangements varied on a case by case basis because of the factors in each location.