Water Bills questions and comment

Jackiekaren

I live alone in a 2 bed bungalow and am with Welsh Water on a meter. My monthly payment was reduced from £10pm to £8pm after I was given a refund of £46 credit, just got my bill and I'm still in credit by £23!! Fantastic

medical

My water bill goes up every time I get a bill, latest one is an average of £30 on a monthly basis (estimated) for three bedroom Three Valley in Hatfield; and I have a water meter. How can I reduce this bill? Three Valley have been reluctant in reading the meter due to low staffing problems.

LPChamberlain

Can anyone help with suggestions of how I can save on my water bills, my home is supplied by 2(!) companies; Southern Water for 'waste water' and South Eastern for the rest of my supply. On reading thru' the threads it would appear I could possibly make savings on waste as I have 2 drainpipes that are 'soakaways' am I correct? I also pay separate annual insurance for both underground external & internal pipes, should I? If I go the 'water meter' route will I need 2 meters? When I look at the figures people quote I appear to pay an excessive amount; £289.96pa for Southern Waste water & £283.02pa for my other supply from South East Water, combined annual bill of £572.98 plus insurance costs. Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks

scattycat_3

LP, at a guess your house has a high rateable value, and that is what your water companies base your current bills on.

If you were to decide to be metered then you should only need one meter, which will measure your useage by volume ( 1 unit = 1000 litres or around 220 gallons). Maybe both companies may require to read your meter, what goes in, comes out as waste. You will be charged by volume supplied,leaks and all, plus a standing charge. Similar charges will be made by the other company for taking the waste away in the form of effluent/sewage, plus a fixed charge for surface drainage, usually based on the area of your property.(though if your rainwater does not go into the sewers, ie a soakway on your land, then you should not have to pay the latter.)
The standing charges are usually the same for metered and unmetered supplies, so that part of your bill should not change from what it is now.

You just need to get a leaflet on meter charges from the relevant companies or visit their websites where they should give an estimate of average useage for your circumstances.

{Edit}
Better still, click on the link below, to see if a water meter saves ££s or not, just enter your postcode:-

Uswitch Water cost comparison by Postcode,

and hopefully a MSE referal one too, if I got it right {Link edited to give MSE ref }

As a guess if you used say around 100 cubic metres a year you should roughly halve your bill using a meter.

HTHs Scat

LPChamberlain

:A Thank you very much for your response, very much appreciated! I have already contacted Southern Water re:Soakaways and shall now do as you advise and check out meters!

yonny1

Can anyone suggest a reason why my water bill should have doubled??
Used to pay £18 a month, two of us live in a four bed in bedfordshire,a shower each daily and then both at work.............and I go abroad 3 times a month!!! No swimming pool or hose pipe and have tried to save water by not running the tap etc

yonny1

Can anyone suggest a reason why my water bill should have doubled??
Used to pay £18 a month, two of us live in a four bed in bedfordshire,a shower each daily and then both at work.............and I go abroad 3 times a month!!! No swimming pool or hose pipe and have tried to save water by not running the tap etc but just opened the letter from three valleys water and bill has doubled to £39??
Any ideas??? Can I change water company? get it looked at?
Any help gratefully received!

DJ1UK

Hi

When did you used to pay £18? last year or recently. Have you missed any payments (DD's not taken)?

I take it you're on a meter. If so looks like there could be a leak. Phone them and query the consumption and ask why it has risen. They will probably sent someone out to check for a leak or faulty meter.

I don't think you can change your water supplier - unless you move to a differt location!!

DJ

yonny1

Hi DJ and thanks for taking the trouble to reply,

yes, we're on a meter, we paid £18 up until this month, it changes from sep!

No missed payments either.Phoned them yesterday and they said that £18 a month didnt cover our usage but when I explained our living situation, two of us and me away a lot they couldnt seem to come up with anything other than we'll review it next year!!!

Dont really want to move...................just my bill re adjusted!

I'll do as you suggest and ring again to get someone to come check the meter!

DJ1UK

Hi Again,

It sounds that when you set up your payments (probably last April) they were set at a level that would not cover your yearly charge. Maybe you asked them to lower the payments or the same amount was continued from previous years. Now they realise that they won't recieve the full amounr of this years charges and have increased the payment.

You can either continue on the lower payments and carry over arrears into the next year - or increase your payments and pay off this years bill in full.

Good luck!

DJ