£450 water bill! and getting paranoid...

Davidboy

melbury wrote:

I am also with Wessex Water, but metered. Can I be really nosey and ask what rate band you are in, just to give me an ideal of where we stand. Thanks.

Sorry not been on this site for a while...Band "E"

D

melbury

Thanks for that information. We are also in Band E, so it looks like we are better off being metered if you are paying £560 p.a. We managed to get the last bill down to a more reasonable level by being very careful and really thinking about the water we use. You would probably be better off getting a meter.

zAndy1

I've just seen our bill from February, for the 6 months from 9/7/05 to 25/1/06, total water charge £133 , total sewerage charge £155.74. This is for a 4 bed detached house, 2 adults and 2 children with washing machine that gets quite a lot of use, a dishwasher used once every couple of days. Does this sound reasonable, I was pretty shocked when I saw it, we're 'only' paying £28pm by direct debit, going on that bill we should be paying more like £48pm! Seems a staggering amount to be paying for water I must admit.

calleyw

zAndy1 wrote:

I've just seen our bill from February, for the 6 months from 9/7/05 to 25/1/06, total water charge £133 , total sewerage charge £155.74. This is for a 4 bed detached house, 2 adults and 2 children with washing machine that gets quite a lot of use, a dishwasher used once every couple of days. Does this sound reasonable, I was pretty shocked when I saw it, we're 'only' paying £28pm by direct debit, going on that bill we should be paying more like £48pm! Seems a staggering amount to be paying for water I must admit.

In reply 15 Cardew states that on average each person uses 160 litres a day. So if there are 4 of you then an average usage is 640 litres a day :eek: And a cubic meter is 1000 litres. So if you use those figures for 6 months.

640 X 182.5 =116800 Litres or 116.8 cubic meters. Which would mean £1.13 a cubic meter. Does that sound about right.

Is your washing machine a new one as they use about 60L a wash. And do you take baths or showers. If you have shower try and get everyone to have a shower rather than a bath. This will save money as long as they don't 15 min showers.

Do you take your own meter readings. If not then start. Take them at least once a week to start and then monthly. As it might help to give you an idea of where you are using water.


Yours


Calley

Sujamjen

Just a slight change of topic - how on earth do you manage to get by with just 3 loads of washing a week with 2 adults and a 6 month old? Clothes, towels, bedding etc?? Please let me know your secret

zAndy1

calleyw, thanks for the reply and the advice about taking my own readings, I think I'll start doing that. According to the bill a cubic meter costs £1.02 and we used 117 cubic meters in that period. The washing machine is about 4 years old, LG 7KG capacity one, not sure how efficient it is. We tend to have baths, the kids will share and so do me and my wife, well I'll have a bath then my wife will use the same water after me or visa versa. I wonder whether our loos are using water all the time, there seems to be a steady trickle of water in at least one of them all day long so that could well be contributing, doubt it's much but you never know.....

calleyw

zAndy1 wrote:

calleyw, thanks for the reply and the advice about taking my own readings, I think I'll start doing that. According to the bill a cubic meter costs £1.02 and we used 117 cubic meters in that period. The washing machine is about 4 years old, LG 7KG capacity one, not sure how efficient it is. We tend to have baths, the kids will share and so do me and my wife, well I'll have a bath then my wife will use the same water after me or visa versa. I wonder whether our loos are using water all the time, there seems to be a steady trickle of water in at least one of them all day long so that could well be contributing, doubt it's much but you never know.....

Andy,

Me and my husband share a bath water as well.

To test if water is trickling out of the cistern in to the loo. Pop some red food colouring in the cistern and watch. If you loo water turns bright red then you know you have a leak. It may seem only a small amount but it does add up.

I think your washing machine is ok. I have a machine that is about 9 years old and from taking meter readings I reckon it uses 120 litres a wash. If I had a new one then it would use less water but it would cost me more in electric as they are now cold fill only. And it would take me about 10 years to get back the cost of the machine in savings. So think I will wait until it just stops working.

All the best on cutting back.


Yours


Calley

valmiki

zAndy1, are these actual readings?!

as for my own usage, I'm glad to say that usage has dropped considerably. Projected annual bill about £350 thankfully.

hippos in every tank, and water level in cistern reduced as low as realistically possible!

Cardew

I am a little confused here.

Firstly Calley has assumed you are metered, and as you refer to the washing machine use and no of people I suppose that is a fair assumption. However you don't state what your consumption was??

Secondly Sujamjen talks of 3 loads of washing a week? Could that be dishwasher?

To comment on your question. If metered, for six and a half months(as Calley has calculated) average use would be in the region of 120 cu mtrs. You can look that tariff up for water and sewerage from your supplier. I am with Severn Trent and for that amount of water in a detached house and with surface water drainage to a sewer my bill would have been approx £238. I have no idea how Severn Trent tariffs compare to your supplier's tariff; but, unlike you, we pay much more for water than sewerage.


If you are not metered it obviously depends on your Rateable Value but for a 4 bed detached in Wiltshire I would think you total of £289 would be pretty reasonable.

Just to make your day! your charges were at 2005 rates. There has been a big increase for 2006 rates.

Afternote:
Posts crossed - you are metered and 117 cu mtrs is about average. Are you paying for surface water drainage? That can make a considerable difference in your sewerage bill(which is high) - most surface water goes into soakaways on houses these days. Also even if it does enter the sewer you can elect for a fixed payment instead of paying extra on each cu mtr(a big saving). Check that out and you can claim a rebate back ?? years.

zAndy1

I haven't got a clue if we're paying for surface water drainage, how do I find out? It says on the bill under sewerage service 'volume charged (foul & surface) @ 90% of water used' so does that mean we're paying for surface water drainage? How do I know if I'm entitled to a rebate on this, sorry but this is the first I've heard of such a thing so I'm slightly (ok very) confused.