A Norwich-built money-saving app has saved nearly 400 homeowners on a single estate up to hundreds of pounds each.

Snoop, which analyses user’s spending and direct payments, alerted a customer in Milton Keynes that they were paying a surface water drain charge to Anglian Water when in fact they did not have to.

Having taken it to the firm James McGeever received a £230 credit refund – and spread the word to his neighbours.

MORE: Indoor arena with four football pitches and gym to come to Norwich

Now the entire estate of Stratford Park has contacted Anglian Water who are in the process of working through the refunds.

Mr McGeever said: “I got a Snoop saying ‘Are you putting money down the drain?’ – because you don’t pay a surface water charge if you have a soakaway. I knew I had a soakaway and Snoop took me straight to Anglian Water’s site to submit the claim.

“I posted this into our estate’s Facebook group and all of them were eligible. There have been other people who have been paid hundreds, and some who have even moved away but are eligible. It’ll be thousands across the whole estate.”

Anglian Water says the pay-out will be “significant” but could not confirm how much.

Scott Mowbray, co-founder at Snoop, said: “Anglian Water are still assessing the final bill, but a potential rebate of thousands is a fantastic result and is why we created Snoop – to help consumers put money back in their pocket. It’s a big win for our customer, his neighbours and community and shows the power of having Snoop on your phone.”

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “Most homes are connected to surface water drains and the main sewer network where water is taken away to be treated. In order to qualify for a reduced sewerage charge, all of the surface water from the property must go into a soakaway, rather than down the drain.

“This information can usually be found on property deeds, as we can’t access these, customers should let us know if it applies to their home.

“We are always more than happy to credit back the charge back, if they are eligible. It equates to around £30 a year on your water bill. The amount refunded, depends on the length of occupancy, backdated to a maximum of six years.“