Bramley Green, an estate of around 600 houses, which was completed in 2005, rids itself of excess water via a sustainable urban drainage system, or soakaway, which means surface water does not enter Southern Water's sewer system.

The privatised water company could be raking in more than £13,000 a year for a surface water charge for rainwater from roofs, paths and driveways, at £22 a year per property, even though the homes are not connected up to the sewerage system.

The issue has been attracting heated comments on a forum on the Angmering village website. One message, posted by "Bert", says: "Southern Water are really pushing their luck. They are the same as some politicians, they treat us all with contempt.

"They expect individual households to claim for a reduction in costs for surface water drainage, when they know full well that a particular new residential road or, the whole of Bramley Green, has a soakaway, and that they do not have to deal with surface drain water. "

Another claimed that the company had been making massive amounts of money, by charging for a non-existent service.

Arun District Council confirmed that the whole of the Bramley Green development, save two properties in the north of the estate, was served by the soakaway, and that this had been made clear on the original planning application.

A spokesman for Southern Water said that while the company cancelled charges for properties that did not use its sewers for water drainage, such a cancellation needed to be applied for.

"We have 1.7 million properties but not all are eligible to have this charge cancelled. It depends on the individual private drainage system at individual properties. It is, therefore, not possible for us to say who is entitled to a cancellation and who is not."

When asked how many people in Bramley Green were paying the charge, the spokesman declined to answer.

"These are individual applications associated with the private drainage of properties and are considered on an individual basis. It would be very difficult to give a number."

For more information on drainage costs, go to www.southernwater.co.uk

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