Water bills cost cutting article

topbuzz

...and another one, I noticed that there was no downpipes on my guttergin on my property. Which meant the rain water running off my roof was NOT entering the water system. So got the water people to reduce my bill for that - and it worked!

Cardew

Dina_Dastardly wrote:

Does any one know if you should pay sewage charges if your waste water is channelled to a cesspit.
This has to be emptied and we have to bear the cost, so in effect we are paying twice for the treatment of sewage!:mad:

You can certainly get a reduction in sewerage charges if you can prove less than average amounts of waste water go back into the sewer.

You can also get a separate meter for water you use in the garden and you pay nothing I believe for sewerage.

I am fairly sure that with cesspits you pay no sewerage charges.

deanos

Cardew wrote:

You can also get a separate meter for water you use in the garden and you pay nothing I believe for sewerage.

.

Thats a new one on me.

Chriswil

Dina_Dastardly wrote:

Does any one know if you should pay sewage charges if your waste water is channelled to a cesspit.
This has to be emptied and we have to bear the cost, so in effect we are paying twice for the treatment of sewage!:mad:

In Scotland, if your wastewater all goes to a septic tank, then you should not be liable for any sewerage charges. I don't know how the plc's work though...

Cardew

deanos wrote:

Thats a new one on me.

It has been mentioned several times that people have got a reduction in their sewerage charge as they have argued that had less than average amounts of waste water returned to the sewer - I believe one was for a swimming pool.

This was an earlier thread on separate meter.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=385379

deanos

No seperate meters in my area thats for sure and as far as im aware its not an option

Devon_Sheepie

This is my £0.02p worth on this topic....

1) As mentioned before a few times, the example table at the start of the Water Costs discussion is flawed - and I believe quite significantly. For water supply based on the rateable value (RV), it talks about a flat charge of £320/year for a 4-bed house irrespective of where you are - this is just plain wrong. If you move the exact same 4-bed house around the country, the RV will change depending where it is, and - most importantly for the water discussion - the "Pence per RV" for both Water and Sewerage will vary by Water Company - so no flat rate.

2) What exacerbates the problem with the table is fact that the Metered costs look like they ARE calculated on a regional basis. This means that for the higher cost water companies, the apparent savings from a metered supply are much lower. Example, the figures for South West Water, the highest charging company (and my own supplier) mean that if you have two or more people in a household, you would lose out by getting a meter, potentially by hundreds of pounds.

So Combining 1) and 2) can result in people who are looking to save money (which is why they are here, of course) may be disinclined to bother looking into it further.
The Water Savings table MUST be either updated with more realistic RV, removed, or a big health warning added saying the RV values WILL vary by region and £320 is probably at the lower end of the fixed RV scale.

Here is my own situation with regards to Water Charges to illustrate some potential savings:

I have a 4-Bed House in the South West Water region - unfortunately, I don't pay the quoted £320 a year charge, but around £800 for the last year (The RV based water charge for 2007-2008 for my house is £869.81). so already I would be around £550 worse off for the year compared to the calculated meter option if I took the "2 people in a 4 bed house would be £7 worse off with a meter" at face value and carried on as I was.

I enquired about a meter and was told I couldn't have one as I had a shared water supply. Bit surprised as the water stop-c0ck is outside my driveway and is for my house alone, as far as I knew.
But, and this is the key thing, they did say I *may* be able to have an assessed charge instead (as mentioned in a few posts and by Martin is his original piece).
So the figures quoted by SWW are as follows:

Standard RV Charge for my House: £800*
Single Person Assessed Charge: £249.50
Two Person Assessed Charge: £381.50 (for 2007-2008 this is now £425)
Multi-Occupancy As's'd Charge: £529.00

*I am guessing £800 based on £870 for 2007-2008 and what looks like a round about 11% increase from last year.
The Water Pence per RV is 99.12 & the Sewerage Pence per RV is 223.58

So for me - 2 People in 4 Bed house - by taking the assessed charge option, I will have more then halved my Water Bill and saved over £400 by not taking that table at face value (hence my initial rant at it - sorry if it seemed over the top)

FWIW, I did a meter calculation at Uswitch and that comes out to £473 pa for two people with my estimated use, so I am more then happy at NOT beng able to get a Meter AND not being on RV based charges!

So my suggestion to everyone - Check into this further whatever situation you think you may be in - you may be pleasantly surprised!

And a final thought - don't delay.... my application was recieved 31st Jan 2007, so they also rebated me £60 for the remainder of this fiscal year which was a nice surprise (I then asked then to back-date further but they wouldn't (don't ask, don't get!))

Finally, SWW has by far the highest charges - not totally sure why, but I believe the cost of maintaining the coastline is down to the local water company, so next time any of you MSE folks come down to the West Country, enjoy the beaches and raise a glass of beer to me and my fellow Devonians who paid for the water in it!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum, and great first post!

I have been 'banging on' for months that Martin's guide is simply far to simplistic. Especially as it it seems to assume that there are 2 people to every Bedroom. Obviously I am a great fan of Martin and his site, but that article far from saving his readers money, will prevent many from saving money.

Again as I have stated before, I have seen huge old farmhouses with a RV of £50 or so, and small one bedroomed flats with an RV many times higher.

Had I remained on the RV system I would be paying £1,260 pa in Severn Trent which has relatively low rates compared with those in the affluent West Country!!(where it would be approx £1000 more). On a meter I could have 12 people living full time in my house and still be better off.

What I can't understand is why people who are in doubt don't have a meter fitted for a year or less; you can always revert back to RV assessment if it looks as if it is going to be more expensive.

stevek_2

rtubb wrote:

As an individual living alone in a house and with an eye on keeping water usage low with regards to the the environmental impact of water usage, I felt getting a meter would save me a packet in bills.

After enuiring about moving to a meter, Severn Trent visited my property, did some digging - then stopped work. Said I was part of a "shared" water system so couldn't have a meter fitted. They then offered me a "saver" tariff of £250 - £40 a year MORE than my current tariff!!

This was around 4 years ago and I've never enquired again. I'd definitely save a fortune by converting to metered water, but I wonder if anyone else has been refused a water meter fitting and what could be done about it?

I live in a top floor flat, with, it would appear, a shared water supply and resent paying £30 a month for water supply and waste but the "system" dosen't allow for this. Last address my metered bill for a quarter was £8! Where's the incentive to save water? I might as well use as much as I can and get my money's worth? But I don't, I save it wherever I can. Any gems of knowledge out there?

aah

Ok, and yesterday I was so chuffed, I'd applied through Uswitch, following this article, to Severn Trent for a meter.

I was wondering why I had not had the promised email makming the arrangements.

I have a converted one-bedroom flat which I use 3 mights a week for work. 2 baths washing machine on onve every other week, wash up probably twice weekly. Was anticipating saving LOADS...

But I suspect now that I will have a shared supply and will still have to pay £24 monthly - thats £2 per DAY... that I am there (and thats if its every single week)...

Grrrrrrr