Water Bills- too much?

ironman1

Hello all, reading up on here makes me think my water bill is a bit high compared to others.

Me and my Girlfriend live in a half rent half buy new build in London.

Our Gas and Electric bills are unbelievabl low but the water comes to around £360 a year. We get bills every quarter for anything between £80-95. Does that seem right?

We are never in during the day and have a shower or bath a night. We have never really thought about it being dear or whatever but reading some posts on here it does seem a bit much?

Cardew

£360 does seem on the high side for Thames water.

How much water does your meter indicate you use in a year? Do your bills correspond to those readings or are they based on estimated readings?

Are you paying for Surface Water drainage? You probably are - and you probably shouldn't be paying that charge. The 'default' position is you are charged for it, and you have to claim relief.

Becciboobah

I'm also a Thames Water customer and when I first moved into my new flat, they decided my water bills should be £59 a month!!!! It's a 2 bedroom flat, with 2 adults and a toddler in it (I'm at work all day, I do possibly 3 loads of washing a week, have a shower of an evening and my boy has a very shallow bath every other night).

I got them to put a meter in and now pay £17 a month. I recommend a meter if you haven't already got one in.

Cardew

Becciboobah wrote: »

I got them to put a meter in and now pay £17 a month. I recommend a meter if you haven't already got one in.

Me and my Girlfriend live in a half rent half buy new build in London.

Any 'new build' property for the last 20+ years has to have a meter.

ironman1

Do you know what, even though I am clued up with every other bill down to the last penny, if you held a gun to my head and asked if I was on a water meter I wouldn't know the answer!

The place only got built a couple of years ago so I suppose we are? I have never given a reading. I just know I get a bill through every three months and it always seems high.

Nothing I can do then if I'm on a meter?

ironman1

Cardew wrote: »

£360 does seem on the high side for Thames water.

How much water does your meter indicate you use in a year? Do your bills correspond to those readings or are they based on estimated readings?

Are you paying for Surface Water drainage? You probably are - and you probably shouldn't be paying that charge. The 'default' position is you are charged for it, and you have to claim relief.

I will dig out our most recent bill tomorrow, I know it lists the charges like the waste etc. Thanks, hopefully I can get it reduced.

Becciboobah

My flat is 10 years old and didn't have a meter in, the Thames Water guy put one in for us in the waste water drain. I wonder why we didn't have one then. Odd. But then again the flat is a decade old and we had to have the place rewired as the electrics didn't have an earth to the sockets. Very well made our flats.

Cardew

Becciboobah wrote: »

My flat is 10 years old and didn't have a meter in, the Thames Water guy put one in for us in the waste water drain. I wonder why we didn't have one then. Odd. But then again the flat is a decade old and we had to have the place rewired as the electrics didn't have an earth to the sockets. Very well made our flats.

Presumably your flat is a conversion of an existing property rather than a purpose build block?

The planning permission would have almost certainly stipulated that a water meter be fitted. However there are loads of quoted cases on MSE of that just being ignored.

Some flats in conversions don't appear to pay any water charges - either metered or unmetered - just one of the flats pays.

There is also plenty of evidence that some conversions have not had any form of planning permission and the authorities are simply unaware that conversion has taken place.

viv0147

I highly recommend a water meter providing you water usage is reasonably low when I first had mine installed my water bill was £300 a year now I pay £17 a month direct debit giving me a saving of £96 a year.

stressedtothelimit

I live in west sussex, water though Southern Water. There are only 2 of us in the house, our water bill is £45 per month, no leaks from the mains, that is just the water we use!

We don't have a garden that we water and don't wash the cars. Just use washing machine, dishwasher (3 times a week) and showers!

Your's all seem cheap in comparison.

Becciboobah

No my flat is purpose built, definitely not a conversion. Was built privately, couldn't sell them and were sold to L & Q as housing stock. Probably explains why even Thameside they couldn't sell them :-)