Water Bills questions and comment

Cardew

Burgerphone wrote: »

Sorry - it's United Utilities. And I suppose it makes sense that the estimate would seem a little high if it's based on the previous occupants, as 2 people lived here before me.

Thanks.

With United Utilities a worse case scenario for 60 cubic meters a year would be approx. £300 pa.


If you don't have your surface water entering a sewer it will be £60 less - so worth checking. See:


http://www.unitedutilities.com/Our-charges-2014-2015.aspx

GrimJam

Are we being overcharged? We pay £50/mo (metered)

We work 9-5, no bath, new flat with modern appliances/fixtures, no leaks etc.

A friend of mine pays the same with four kids, frequent baths and an old house. Are we just using too much water when we're in the house? (14 cub. m/month).

Is it worth calling the water company (Wessex Water) to enquire?

Cardew

GrimJam wrote: »

Are we being overcharged? We pay £50/mo (metered)

We work 9-5, no bath, new flat with modern appliances/fixtures, no leaks etc.

A friend of mine pays the same with four kids, frequent baths and an old house. Are we just using too much water when we're in the house? (14 cub. m/month).

Is it worth calling the water company (Wessex Water) to enquire?

Wessex water charges are here:
http://www.wessexwater.co.uk/customers/threecol.aspx?id=254


The worse case is that you will pay £4.10 per cubic metre for water and sewerage; plus £78 in standing charges.


If you use 14 cubic metres a month(168 pa) your charges would be £777 pa. Which is £64 a month

GrimJam

Excellent, thanks for the info

I suppose it's time to start getting thriftier with our water usage then

matelodave

14cu.m a month sounds a lot - what do you use it all on? The average per person uses about 55cu.m a year so your consumption should be nearer 110cu.m (about 9 cu.m/month).

Shorter showers or shallower baths and fewer of them could save you quite a lot especially if you've got a power shower.

An average shower uses 10-15 litres minute so if each of you have a 10 minute shower every day then you could consume 150 litres x 2 = 300litres a day = 100cu.m a year.

Time how long it takes to fill a 10 litre bucket if it takes less than a minute then you should try to reduce the flow.

Fitting a flow restrictor or economy shower head could halve that to 50cum a year and reducing your shower time to 5 minutes each would halve that to 25cum a year. You could easily save 50-75cum a year without really trying.

Don't let water run down the sink when washing up, rinsing or cleaning your teeth. You can fit flow restrictors to your taps as well (some water companies give them away for free - check their website for water saving tips and devices)

Only use the washing machine and dishwasher when they are full - part loads use as much water and energy as full ones. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need.

All these measures will save both water and energy without any effort or cost

WessexWater_representative

GrimJam wrote: »

Are we being overcharged? We pay £50/mo (metered)

We work 9-5, no bath, new flat with modern appliances/fixtures, no leaks etc.

A friend of mine pays the same with four kids, frequent baths and an old house. Are we just using too much water when we're in the house? (14 cub. m/month).

Is it worth calling the water company (Wessex Water) to enquire?

Hi GrimJam

Sometimes when a customer's water consumption increases, it can be caused by a leak.

We'd be happy to talk you through a leak test to check this for you. Our phone number is 0345 600 3 600 or you can email [EMAIL="customer.services@wessexwater.co.uk"]customer.services@wessexwater.co.uk[/EMAIL].

Alternatively, there is further information here.

Kind regards

Wessex Water

tastyfish

I live in a detached house (in Severn Trent area) and pay £95/yr for sewerage. Someone in a semi pays £63, a terraced home owner only £32.

My point is, why is the TYPE of house factored in when it should be the land surface area? An old terraced house with a long garden could be bigger than a semi and many semis (mainly older) are much bigger (often with large gardens) than newer detached houses like mine.

Why not have surface area categories, eg less than 100m2, etc?

Current system is unfair as there's no correlation with surface area. You may as well use brick colour or what football team someone supports, as either are just as un-linked to surface area.

Ultimately, I am a consumer paying for a service so anyone who responds with 'life is unfair blah blah' will be ignored, thank you.

matelodave

Get a water meter and you'll only pay for what you use and what you dispose of - that's fair.

Cardew

matelodave wrote: »

Get a water meter and you'll only pay for what you use and what you dispose of - that's fair.

You have misunderstood the post above. He is talking about the Severn Trent Surface Water Drainage(SWD) charge which has 3 bands for SWD as he describes, and are charged regardless of being metered or non-metered.


OP
Those charges are not for sewerage but for SWD. Stupidly referred to on ST bills as 'measured drainage' - when it isn't measured! Sewerage is referred to as Used water.
For most properties, the majority of rain water is from gutters and I suppose that the(flawed) logic is that generally detached have a bigger roof than a semi etc.


However the whole business of SWD charges is a joke and has been discussed many times on MSE.


For instance every occupant of a 24 storey block of flats pays the same SWD(if no soakaway)


10 Downing Street with 60 or so rooms is a Terraced House and would pay less for SWD than a semi if it were in the ST area.


Whilst The Water Act mandated that every property would pay SWD unless relief was claimed, every water company has chosen a different method of charging.


P.S.
If yours is a more modern property, can you not claim relief?

NicholasRMCane

Good Evening,


I live in a block of 4 flats, I have for over 3 years. I changed to water meters for both my water companies.


I have noticed a big difference, it is a lot cheaper. This is probably because the other flats have around 5 people in each. Where there is only 2 of us in this flat and we don't have bath just a shower.

Can I claim anything back due to the high amount I was paying.


Would appreciate any advice


Thanks,
Nick