Water bills cost cutting article

Cardew

Re the last 2 posts.

Living in a flat with a shared water supply does not preclude having a water meter fitted - lots have meters inside their flat.

Anyway if they can't fit a meter they have to offer you an assessed rate which is normally a good deal for a 1 bed flat.

helenturkey

I just wanted to say that I have a water meter in my home, and whilst friends and families bills have been increasing, we have found that we have gradually been over paying. I finally noticed and am now getting a refund of £150 from an overpayment of nearly £250!
My water bill is definately lower on a water meter, it helps makes you more aware of how much you are using. We invested in a water butt, encourage the kids to use less and hopefully help reduce the environmental impact we have.
I've just found another way to reduce the amount of water when doing washing. I bought a washing/laundry ball from Lakeland which washes without powder (saving money there) and eliminates the need for rinsing!

KittyJ_3

As well as being able to claim a rebate if your property has a ‘soakaway’ , you can also claim if your surface rain water runs off elsewhere. eg I live on the edge of the Manchester Ship Canal and my surface water goes into drains which go into the canal rather than the sewerage system. The only problem is proving it, but I bought the house from new and obtained details from the builders.

clbanks

When I moved house 4 years ago I had the saga of the council not having our house in the correct banding for our council tax. Your water bills (I'm with Yorkshire water) is also based on the old rateable value of your house. So if your banding is incorrect for your council tax, chances are that it will be incorrect for your water. Always worth checking!

Cardew

clbanks wrote:

When I moved house 4 years ago I had the saga of the council not having our house in the correct banding for our council tax. Your water bills (I'm with Yorkshire water) is also based on the old rateable value of your house. So if your banding is incorrect for your council tax, chances are that it will be incorrect for your water. Always worth checking!

How do you check?

The Rateable Value system finished in 1990 and is now only used by Water Companies for those not on a Meter.

The Council Tax banding is nothing to do with the old Rateable Value(RV) and there is no correlation between the RV and Council Tax banding. The later is based on the value of the property and the RV wasn't. You could have a huge house in Council Tax band H with a lower RV than a small semi in Council Tax bad C.

So if they are charging you incorrectly by using the wrong RV, they have been doing it incorrectly for 17 years and there is no way the council can check as the RV records don't exist any more

gem4

i persuaded my dad to go on a water meter in june. He was paying £35 p/mth on the rateable system. He asked for quarterly bills. He had one Jun-Nov £36, and one Nov-Feb £12, so its only cost him a total of £48 for 8 mths!!

I know I could have saved the same but as its shared pipes I had to be assessed which only saves me £100 a year.....but hey, thats still great. :dance:

nortonsmith

I changed to a water meter narly a year ago and cut our monthly bill from £28 per month to £15. A good saving is to save bath water (do not have a shower) and use it to flush the loo. Save all rainwater in butts and use to wash car and water garden.

Emmysmum_2

Front loading washers use no more than 45 litres of water for a complete load. Avg water butt holds enough for 4 loads. We are getting one and installing it so that when low, the washer still takes from the mains

levi76

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

This thread is specifically to discuss the content of the

Water Bills Cost Cutting article.

To discuss or ask a question about this article: click reply

i am single and live in a 1 bedroom flat, severn trent wont fit a water meter because there is not enough room in the space outside.

i asked for a consumpion based bill which works out more that a rateable bill, i still pay more than i did for a 2 bedroom house.

whats going on, i pay the same amount as a person would who lives in a 2/3 bedroom terrace with 5 people living in it!!!! hmmmmm seems like the directors at severn trent are sat at the side of the pool sipping cocktails!

karlk_3

Hi All

Personally, the meter thing didn't work out for my wife and I as it increased our bills no end - especially as the sub-contractor had connected our meter to several neighbours houses resulting in us paying for their water consumption too!!

After several letters, calls, etc., we resolved this issue. Never again though!

On a different note - I have just read an article on the homepage of the National Pure Water Association:

http://www.npwa.freeserve.co.uk/

It basically states that people whom object to fluoridation in their water supply who have to but filters, etc., can 'deduct' these expenses from their bills in the form of non-payment to cover the costs of the inconvenience to themselves:

"For those living in fluoridated areas and punters who just don't want to pay their water bills, it seems almost too good to be true. During the past several weeks, NPWA HQ has received calls from perplexed fluoridation objectors throughout England. When they contacted their water company and stated that they would deduct monies for bottled water/water filters if their water was fluoridated, they were told that the water companies didn't care, because the Department of Health would pay their water bill."

Has anyone else heard of this? Has anyone tried it? This would definitely reduce my water bills per se.

Thanks

Karl