Slight rant, had a meter installed 6 months ago, lots of mail about saving me money, Eco stuff etc…

6 months later get my first bill looks like my water bill has DOUBLED. This is in a household of 2 adults who have showers and don’t hosepipe the garden, as if you needed to this summer.

There is even a section, on the back of the letter, where they offer to help you with the new bill by paying and reduced cost over 2 years. But you have to phone up to ask to be put on it or they will charge you full price.

Absolute LYING SHISTERS. When salaries are frozen, or in my case a small reduction this is a pisstake and appears to be nothing you can do about it.

More showers at work for me then.

I think you can have it removed within the first year.

How much were you paying to start with (before the meter) and how much are you paying now?

Not nearly enough capitals for a full rant….

…..but seriously, we had suspiciously high bills when we moved into a flat. Turn everything off, and see if the meter is still going round (ours was). Then you speak to the water company. We couldn’t engage ours, but they managed to engage the landlord, and it turned out there was a very large leak under the driveway (it also explained the deepening crater in it!). Landlord’s responsibilty, and he eventually reluctantly fixed it. We did eventually get some of the hundreds of pounds we’d paid back.

Maybe you have a leak? Shut everything off and see what the meter is doing.

Yup not impressed here, no savings at all. My first bill was for 3K!!!! Turns out the supply was leaking(on our drive so our problem). They fixed it for free(the guys said it looked as if the leak had been going for poss years) and I argued that contractors who fitted the meter should have picked up the leak on fitting(ie when the house was turned off and it was first connected surely the meter was going, plus meter readings were high from the off). Thankfully they waived the leak bill! And yes within the first year of fitting you can go back to rated supply.

Nothing in the paper work about getting removed. So I can insist to go back to non metered? How?

We were paying £240 ish, new bill says annual charge will be £468.

Meter is in the pavement outside the house so not sure I can even get to it to see the figures?

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/leaflets/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf

page 10.

Leak, perhaps? Water meters should be compulsory.

You pay about £1 per 1000 litres of water and you’re complaining about this? Assuming that half the bill is on sewerage you’re using 215,000 litres a year. That’s about 3500 baths.

Sorry to sound sanctimonious but you should be aware of just how lucky you are to have clean, drinkable water on tap for 0.1p/litre.

Spend less time in the shower and stop whinging.

You pay about £1 per 1000 litres of water and you’re complaining about this?

well if it was previously 50p per 1000 litres…

Yes I am complaining. It is an extra £200 I have to find per year when I have taken a salary cut. For the same service.

Thanks for the link will take a look

Meter is in the pavement outside the house so not sure I can even get to it to see the figures?

There’s no way it is or should be inaccesible to you. It’s under the small square flap.

My single occupancy water meter bill is around £100 / year so > £400 sounds very steep for two people.

There’s no way it is or should be inaccesible to you. It’s under the small square flap.

Yep, just pop the top open with a flat-bladed screwdriver.

Pressure-washing the bike too much? 😉

Seriously, as a family of 4 our bill is £40 a month on a meter, and that’s without making a conscious effort to reduce our usage.

We were paying £240 ish, new bill says annual charge will be £468.

Our last house had a meter from new, £11 per month for 3 with no attempt to save water whatsoever. No idea how anyone could use 4 times as much.

Yep our as well, around £ 42 per month for four people.

Our water bill halved when we changed to a meter. Either though we now have a baby (lots of nappy washing) our bill is still lower.

You either have a leak, or are very wasteful.

phone up the water company and politely question the bill. as mentioned above, turn off the internal stop tap and see if the meter is still spinning.

i would imagine that if there has been a leak that has only just been detected, they will waive or adjust the bill accordingly.

Same stuation as OP except ours halved from around £40 to around £20 per month.

Check what it is doing when you have everything turned off. Easy enought to get into with a large screwdriver or other bits from the tool box.

Did you seriously believe the water company wanted to save you money ? They are in the profit business.

Is it a real bill by the way or an estimate. Estimated bills are a great way of utility companies to get your money into their account.

Jambalaya – water meters are a regulator-driven thing.

Well ours is about £220 a year for two of us( Thames Water). They do base waste water rates on water used. ie use 50 gallons of fresh water, they base waste water on 50 gallons. I object to that as much of the water I use doesn’t go down the drains – it goes into the ground water from washing the bikes in the garden but hey ho.

I’d also check the meter reading against what the meter actually says. If the estimated rather than read the meter they never ever er on the low side.

Approx cost of a water meter

Here is a chart of approx cost – £468 sounds on the high side using this chart.

ps Get a shower saver/ tap savers, low flush loo (or stick a ‘loo bag thingy’ in a conventional one) and a shower timer. Most of these should be free from your water company.

So I called Southern Water for a moan, surprisingly only on hold for 10minutes….

Apparently our usage is pretty much bang what is expected for a 2 people house with a garden, no evidence of leaks etc…

It was just we were on a very low non metered rate previously. So we have no choice but to stump up. I have moved us over to a “changeover plan” which will save us a bit for the next 2 years. If you want this you have to phone up and ask though. It isn’t automatic.

I asked about removing the meter – I can go back to non-metered, but they put us on a non metered rate of £781 per year.

Also we cannot move to another water company so they have a monopoly. Apparently the majority of customers do save money. Just not me who has had his bill nearly double.

Not very pleased.

All this comparing water bills is brilliant but nobody has pointed out that different water companies charge different amounts, as somebody that lives in the south west and pays over £1000 a year for a 4 bed house. You simple can’t compare amounts per month year unless it is all from the same water authority.