A grandmother battling dementia has been held hostage by an 18-year billing error, forcing her grandson to battle a faceless corporate giant for basic justice.

In a shocking case of corporate negligence, Southern Water has admitted to charging the vulnerable pensioner for her neighbor's water supply for nearly two decades. Yet, instead of an apology and a refund, they slapped the family with a fresh demand for £500 (approx. KSh 85,000), wiping out her credit and leaving her family in despair.

The Discovery

The saga began when the grandson moved into his grandmother's home to care for her. He was immediately hit with a quarterly bill of £614—an astronomical figure for a single occupant. "I was paying direct debits, but the debt kept growing," he explained. A deeper look revealed the truth: the meter registered to the account belonged to the neighbor. For 18 years, the grandmother had been paying for water she never used.

The Corporate Stone Wall

Southern Water’s response has been a masterclass in incompetence. After admitting the error and installing a new digital meter, they initially cancelled the bill and showed a credit. Then, the narrative flipped.

• The U-Turn: The credit vanished, replaced by a new demand for £500, despite new readings proving actual usage was barely £100.
• The Dead Ends: Every call to the customer service line results in a new story, a new "process," and zero resolution.
• The Vulnerability: The victim is a vulnerable customer, supposedly protected by industry regulations, yet she is being hounded for money she does not owe.

A Systemic Rot

This case is not an isolated incident; it is symptomatic of utility companies that treat customers as algorithms rather than people. The refusal to rectify a clear mistake, especially involving a vulnerable citizen, borders on predatory.

As the family fights to clear their name, the question arises: how many other grandmothers are paying for their neighbors' water, too confused or too afraid to complain? Southern Water has admitted the mix-up, but until they pay back every penny, their apology is worth less than the water they can't seem to measure.