Installing a water meter. Would you?

Listening to R5live last week there was a discussion on water meter’s. Thrust of it was that if you have less people in your house than bedrooms it is usually worth having a meter installed.

I live alone and moving to a 3 bedded house shortly and I think water rates are quite a lot more than my present property.

Probably worth it for me – especially with a 1 year cool off option – but my main question is does it reduce value of the property when you come to sell on? Or make harder to see. Views? TIA

I would, if my estimated water usage would cost less than my rates.. obviously 🙂 Not sure anyone would not buy a house cos it had a water meter to be honest. Unless they are a family of 300 large catfish or something.

For you it sounds like having a meter is a no brainer.

Having recently been looking at houses, we didn’t consider at all wheter the houses were on a meter or not.

If I had two identical properties in teh same area one on a meter and one not, sure I’d pick the one that wasn’t on a meter. But in the grand scheme of things it’s not exactly much difference unless you regularly fill a swimming pool. We installed rainwater harvesting and saved about 40% on bills in our old place.

The actual amount of water you use is small and the cost of all the service charges is large to huge, but then somebody has to pay the shareholdrers a profits dont they.

Also any leak, between the meter and the the house or in the house is your problem and your cost for wasted water.

All new homes are forced to be on a meter as will all homes in the near future.

Depends on where you live too – I swapped to a meter about 8 years ago when my “rateable value” bill for a one bedroom top floor flat went over £400 a year. Last year I paid about £130 on metered use – I reckon the meter has saved me well over £2000 since I had it installed.

I would count it as a negative when buying a house, but it wouldn’t be a show stopper.

The reason I would see it as a negative, would be due to stories of people getting massive bills due to split pipes undergound on your side of the meter and not realising.

Reckon on no more than £200 per year for a single occupant on a water meter (average user)

So find out what your rateable value is, and see how it stacks up ?

Personally I would guess that the meter will save you a fair bit.

Single occupant here, just paid my 6 month metered water bill. £56.82.

Single occupant here, just paid my 6 month metered water bill. £56.82.

does that include the sewage as well?

Me, missus, 2 kids.

3 of us put clothes in the wash after they’ve worn them, even if only for 20 seconds before deciding to wear something else! Add all into outdoor activities means our washer runs 24/7 (not quite but y’know).

Add dirty bikes, hosepipes, washing car, watering garden, filling pond etc.

Think we get off lightly with about £200 per year rates.

Is it likely that I would save by going on a meter?

Sewarage and water is £423 plus £73 for a surface water drainage charge. As said above I suspect my usage would be in the ~£150 range so a good saving to be had. Maybe I need not worry too much about the effect on property value. Thanks all.

Dangerousbeans – unless you have 5/6 bedroomed property almost certainly better off as you are according to the R5live report.

2 adults and 2 kids here.

We pay over £700 for water rates and it saves us money.

I water the garden, wash the bike, cars and the kids have a pool during the summer and a water slide.

In our last house we were on a meter and it cost us more!

What am I doing wrong? I pay over £300 per annum with a meter and I live on my own!

Edit: I’ve never watered a garden and the car hardly gets washed.

Metered here, 2 adults and a child – no attempt is made to ‘save’ water other than we prefer showers over baths, but all of us have out-door sports. £13 pcm on dd, hasn’t changed for years.

does that include the sewage as well?

Yes.

I pay over £300 per annum with a meter and I live on my own!

Bath or Shower 🙂 ?

I’m just getting a water meter fitted this week.
Charges for the year are £400 and using Northumbrians calculator for 2 people the metered bill should come out around £250.
The meter is being fitted in the kitchen by the stop tap,not out in the pavement or road,and is read electronically so the meter reader doesn’t need to enter the house.Hopefully it’ll be nowhere what we’re paying now.

Shower always. Haven’t had a bath in decades. 😉

I moved to a meter at my last house and i saved about 150 per year and that was with 3 of us,meters will necome the norm as the water companies will slowly start enforcing them,in leicester any house sold has to have a meter fitted,you have no choice as my new neighbour found out,sure they will start rolling that type of thing out across the whole country.

I think we will swap to a meter….

The water company have said that we can try it and swap back at any time in the following two years if it isn’t saving us money.

There’s just two of us living in a 4 bed detached, so our rates are quite high – about £65 I think…..
I reckon we could cut a decent chunk off our water bill if we swap.

When I managed lots of student houses 5,6,7 beds I regularly saw water bills of up to 2.5k a year. Rates in devon are 800 ish for those types of houses. So we make a point of avoiding them now..

Yes yes and yes.

We had a bill when we moved in 2 years ago of 560. Only 2 of us. Insisted they fit a meter and the quarterly bill is circa 36 quid … So glad we did it!

2 adults and 2 kids here.

We pay over £700 for water rates

😯

2 adults, 2 kids here too.

We pay £280 water rates.

(Small 2-bed terrace, whatever difference that makes)

I pay over £300 per annum with a meter and I live on my own!

Bath or Shower ?

Bath AND Shower by the sounds of it … or something’s leaking …

Water rates are based on the rateable value of your house, which pre-dates council tax (i.e. it’s a very old system indeed). Hence great anomalies.

Anyway, despite endless nappy washing and baths for the little miss, we’re still far better off with our meter than we were on a rated charge.

Shower always. Haven’t had a bath in decades.

Ever tried leaving the plug in while showering? I did it the other week when having a nice warm shower after being out in the snow – filled about 3/4 of the water I normally use for a bath! Of course a quick shower doesn’t but you couldn’t really equate a quick shower to a bath in terms of comfort.

They are this week fitting water meters to the houses in my area (compulsory) although you can opt out (for now) of paying for metered usage.

bath v shower.. got me thinking….

I like to spend a good 15 minutes in the shower with constant water usage.. yet the bath takes less than 5 minutes to fill and I can stay in it as long as I like.

I’ve always been told/read that a shower uses much less water which I seriously doubt in my case.

compulsory, really?

Ever tried leaving the plug in while showering? I did it the other week when having a nice warm shower after being out in the snow – filled about 3/4 of the water I normally use for a bath

This is what people don’t always realise, esp if you have a power shoewr (so I’m told)

I’m a splash-and-dash showerer, in and out in a couple of minutes, but my wife 😯

She could easily drain whole catchment areas. I have trouble keeping myself busy for the length of time she spends in the shower.

elzorillo – Member
They are this week fitting water meters to the houses in my area (compulsory) although you can opt out (for now) of paying for metered usage.

That’s what they are doing round my way – fitting meters as a matter of course. Not sure if you have to opt out or opt in to get onto a meter though….

Add dirty bikes, hosepipes, washing car, watering garden, filling pond etc

in a single line a good reason for compulsory meters 😉

project – Member
The actual amount of water you use is small and the cost of all the service charges is large to huge, but then somebody has to pay the shareholdrers a profits dont they.

Northern Ireland, no shareholders, great service last winter, Scottish Water, no shareholders, the WICS is questioning where future investment funding is coming from. E&W privatisation was a massive exercise in off balance sheet financing the environmental improvements required due to EU directives and has led to a massive improvements compared to the early eighties. Was there a better way? happy to take suggestions 😉

Also any leak, between the meter and the the house or in the house is your problem and your cost for wasted water.

most new meters are installed inside the property these days and water co’s offer a free outside repir for households

as for the liability for leaked water I’ll happily assist someone construct a series of letters using Condition E of the companies licence to argue that they shouldn’t be liable for service pipe leakage (subject to a repair being done when aware)

All new homes are forced to be on a meter as will all homes in the near future.

it’s likely to be 20 years+ before meters are universal

water is finite and abstraction has an environmental impact, making people aware of how much they use is always a good thing in this context and wallet is usually the fastest way of doing it:wink:

My agent called me a few minutes ago about exchanging contracts. I asked her for her view on water meters and she said don’t do it.

I am sure I can make a big saving on water usage over paying water rates BUT will the house be harder to sell or will I get less for it?

If I save say £300pa for 10 years but have to accept say £5k less when I sell I am better off in the long run to pay the rates. Not sure how much less I might have to accept with a meter. If, as project says, it becomes the norm in the future may be less of an issue. I guess these things are difficult to judge.

My cousin swapped to a meter as she was living alone and thought it’d be cheaper. First bill was mahooosive, as there had been an underground leak between the meter and her place.

Whilst you might have a grace period of a year I’d imagine you’ll still probably liable for any leakage for those 12 months – might be worth checking the smallprint.

They are this week fitting water meters to the houses in my area (compulsory) although you can opt out (for now) of paying for metered usage.
—

That’s what they are doing round my way – fitting meters as a matter of course. Not sure if you have to opt out or opt in to get onto a meter though….

Yep.. the meter install is compulsory (houses on my street are over 100 years old) but you dont have to pay via metered supply (for now).

Dread to think what the charge will be like once they have everyone on meters.. bloody monopoly !!

bloody monopoly !!

you could always drill a borehole and install a septic tank 😉

breatheeasy – Member
My cousin swapped to a meter as she was living alone and thought it’d be cheaper. First bill was mahooosive, as there had been an underground leak between the meter and her place.

Whilst you might have a grace period of a year I’d imagine you’ll still probably liable for any leakage for those 12 months – might be worth checking the smallprint.

I would have challenged the bill on the basis that the meter fitters should have checked when connecting the meter for consumption. Write to the water company, when you get fobbed off write to CCW enclosing the response complaining that the water company contractor may have caused the leak and if it was pre-existing should have identified it.

then there is always the Condition E argument 😉

If I save say £300pa for 10 years but have to accept say £5k less when I sell I am better off in the long run to pay the rates.

I’d take the savings now rather than worry about the future. Especially as you’re a single occupant in a three bed house. I can’t believe a water meter would be such a big deal in a house sale anyway.

Seems fair to pay for what you use really……..

I am sure I can make a big saving on water usage over paying water rates BUT will the house be harder to sell or will I get less for it?

I can think of 20+ things that will be higher on the list that impact the price of your house