Water Meter/bills

[cupotee]

I was wondering what other people pay for their water bills.

There are 2 OAPs in our little flat. I thought we were pretty economical with our water usage. We have been paying £26 a month DD, but the bill came in today and find we are in debit by £93.

The Water Co. want to put it up another £8 a month to £34.

We limit the washing up to twice a day. I probably do 6 loads of washing a week, shower daily and flush the loo.

Just last month the electricity went up by £12 a month.

I know I'm not alone, but I am wondering where the extra money will come from.

Maybe its time to write a begging letter to Mr Cameron.

[factor-fiction]

If it's any consolation your water bills are still quite a bit lower than they'd be if you weren't on a meter.
We have 2-3 people in the house and our bills were £70 a month before we had a meter. After the meter they fell to around £28 a month. We are careful with loo flushing and use recycled water to water hanging baskets, garden tubs but we use the washer or dishwasher most days and have daily showers and a bath on 5 nights a week, so your new bill seems a little high. Maybe you need to make a conscious effort to cut back on water by maybe 10% until you get the next bill and see what happens.
As for gas and electricity, yes they are continuing to go up rapidly around the world and will continue to rise even more here while we fritter away money on more wind turbines and try to satisfy the opponents of shale gas.

[aelmpvw]

just me and the oh, we pay £17 a month water rates

[Maydup]

I cannot compare costs as we have no mains drains and pay a reduced rate for water; but there i can compare our water use as the are two of us too.

We shower each day, flush the loo and wash up mid day and evening. But we only do 3 to 4 washing loads each week. can you reduce that at all? We only ever water the garden with water from the water butts and I have to confess to rarely washing the windows or the car! But when we do we try to use buckets rather than the hose pipe.

Its also worth phoning the water co and asking for a compramise on your payment. Make it £30 otherwise you'll probably find that this time next year you'll be in credit having paid a bit too much just to be safe.

[factor-fiction]

Another point is that you may be able to move to a shorter cycle. Our clothes are never particularly dirty and we found that changing from a 70-90 minute wash to a 20 minute wash or at most a 45 minute one, still washed things perfectly well, thus saving on water and electricity

[Kathyan]

We've been on a meter for just over a year and we are paying £15 a month. There are just two of us living in the house but OH is out at work all day. Before we went on a meter we were paying £400 a year!

[theshedman]

Our water bill was just over £1,000 for this year with South West Water. We decided to go to a meter and so far it has been almost halved with the one bill we have received. There are 3 people in our house, plus visitors. So been a good thing changing so far and will see how it pans out after the 12 months.

[Boto]

I changed to a meter over 4 years ago. Previously I was paying over £500 per year, now I am paying £27 per month (£324 p a). If I were not on a meter I would be paying well over £600. There are 2 of us, shower daily, wash up twice a day or dishwasher once a day, about 6 loads of washing week.

[cupotee]

We don't have a garden to water as its a communal garden maintained via the service charge.

I only ever use the 30 minute wash, so no cutback there.

My neighbour/friend lives alone and with the low user rate pays £8 a month. I am wondering if there is a problem with our meter but having read up on it, if they don't find a problem then we are responsible to pay them for checking it out.

Damned if we do and damned if we don't it seems.

I am going to ring them and suggest a compromise. Thanks for the replies its interesting and helpful to get others opinions.

[theshedman]

If you think that there may be a leak turn off everything in the house water wise and then look at the meter and see if you can see the dial moving. It there is nothing turned on then it shouldn't move at all. People living on their own can often claim a rebate on some of their bills. Thing is with water companies is that you have no choice as to who you get it from.

[cupotee]

So.....I rang the water company and told I was on the wrong Tariff.

For the amount of water we use we ought to be on the Low User tariff.

They are allowed to backdate it for one year so our debt will be reduced by nearly£40 [I think thats what she said]

My DD will be put up to £28 [from £25] a month to clear the amount owing.

So its still gone up, but not as much. Time will tell if the low user rate makes that much difference.

Thankyou for your replies. The lady I spoke to assures me there can be nothing wrong with the meter after checking our past usage.

http://tinyurl.com/q3bek6w this is another way to maybe reduce your bills.

We were able to use that system at our last property. It doesn't apply to this one unfortunatly.

[factor-fiction]

I wish we could check our water meter but it's under a metal cover on the pavement. Apparently the meter reader can read it by driving past once every 6 months. It seems a bit unfair that we wouldn't notice a leak until we get a bill.

[cupotee]

Robkep I would ring Anglian Water and ask what tariff your on.

I suspect like me you will should be paying the low user tariff as all my neighbours do and as I am too since my call yesterday.

We can't see ours to read it either. Being in a block of 8 apartments the meters are all placed side by side on the path at the end of the block.

[ladybirder]

I would advise anyone who is unsure to check you're paying on the right meter. I live in a small block of new flats and lots of the meter numbers on the bills didn't match with the correct meter when we did tests. Our meters are under the pavement at the front of our block but we can hook the lid up and see our meters. We had to turn taps on and off a few times while somebody stood over the meter to make sure the movement corresponded with the onning and offing. In some cases it didn't and my neighbour who lives on his own was paying for three people in another flat.So check the meter number on your bill with your actual meter number and take the reading. The water company said they couldn't be wrong but stopped in their tracks when we said we had done tests. They then came out and checked and corrected their records.

[cupotee]

Thats very interesting ladybirder.

I think I will get our son to test this for us.

[strude]

I live in a 3 bedroomed house, there's just me and my daughter and I pay £43 per month water rates. I usually wash all the dishes once a day and me and daughter have bath every other day but just half fill it. Washers on 2-3 times per week. I'm economical with the water but if I went onto a water meter I'de be even worse, worrying about how much I was using.
I changed over to EDF for my gas/electric. They said I would save about £200 a year. After about four months they want to put my DD up to £80 a month which would make my bills the same as what they were with my previous supplier. You cant win. There's more money going out the bank every month than what's going in, I'm thinking every day about what else I can cut back on but cant think of anything else. Things just seem to be getting worse in this country.

[Maydup]

43 a month sounds a lot stude. You'd be wise to think about a meter.

[EDDIE51]

A good estimate of water meter costs here
http://www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.388
I have just had a water meter fitted today, were paying just over £500 a year on the water rates. Will let you know how it goes.

[Dodger666]

cupotee

After making sure you are drawing off no water in your property check the meter is stationary and not counting slowly. If your meter is under the pavement and is still counting water flow you may have a leak underground before it enters your property.

We had a water meter in the house that was counting slowly despite no water being used. It wasn't leaking but still measured water usage even though there was none.