Pensioners are celebrating cheaper water bills after battling with Yorkshire Water to get meters installed.

Elderly residents living in an affordable housing complex at Maple Court, Bingley, are saving £100 a year thanks to the new meters which reduce their bills.

Initially people living the 50-flat accommodation on Ash Terrace were told to pay £6,000 for individual meter installations, by the Bradford-based company.

But 76-year-old resident Joan Crawford was determined to get fairer charges.

After a 12 month struggle she got a meeting with Yorkshire Water, town councillors, Age Concern, Aire Wharfe Community Housing Trust and WaterVoice, a customer rights group, to discuss the issue.

Afterwards Yorkshire Water agreed to install a free, central system, which cut prices from £5 a week to £2.28.

This came to effect in August 2005 and pensioners are now receiving their first reduced bills.

Mrs Crawford said: "It took a lot of fighting to get where we are. For pensioners this is quite a lot of money. When I first moved here I discovered the high charges. I used to live in Falkland Court, Bingley, where there was a similar problem so I know how it worked. I thought well if it can be done there it can be done here."

The residents, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, used to pay more than £200 a year for their water supply, as well as paying a separate monthly service charge each month to use the complex's laundry service and communal bathroom facilities.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman said: "Initially the residents were requesting a meter fitted free for each unit.

"However, because of difficulties surrounding the pipework, there would have been a cost associated with fitting them. Instead we have met with the housing association and have now fitted, for free, a bulk meter which means we now send one bill to them and in turn collect it from the individual tenants through their rents."