switching to water meter

cath-w

Its hard to judge, so does anyone have any experience with Yorkshire Water and are 2 people??


thanks,
john.

We are with Yorkshire Water on a meter. Two people, small, two bed flat and we pay 9 pound a month. We very rarely use the bath, just the shower, have no diswasher and are very careful with water use so we are low users ourselves. It seem fair to me as you pay for what you use and can make savings by keeping your consumption low.

C.

deanos

That is interesting, MRTICLKE, but I guess it will not apply to older houses when a meter is fitted.



PAUL VARJAK

In Anglian Water region you have whats called an "Out Reader" is a reader that fitted to the internal meter and fixed on the outside wall so you dont have to be in when its reading time.

DJ1UK

Scary! We are with United Utilities. Hopefully with no leaks in our pipes!

United Utilities have a wait of upto 3 months / 10 weeks to install a meter. They have a large demand for the free meter option.

DJ

Slinky

Somebody asked about Solow tarriff with Anglian Water.  I used this when I was living in their area and found it cheaper than the standard tarriff (living alone, bath everyday, dishwasher twice a week, washing machine 3-4 times per week).

I was so keen to have a meter (rateable value the bill was £400 a year) that I paid to have a meter installed (£70 in 'those days') and the charges dropped to £75 a half year.  SoLow was even cheaper, but I've moved since then and can't remember how much they went down to.

hil_2

Bit of a frightening story from a friend meter installed:

His first bill came to over £1500. Upon querying this, they did checks on their system and checks on the meter itself. All were ok!
It turned out that he had a leak between the meter and the house..... However, he was charged for this bill as the leak was in his pipework rather than theirs!

::)

that is scary, sometimes your house insurance covers this risk.

Paul_Varjak

Bit of a frightening story from a friend meter installed:

His first bill came to over £1500. Upon querying this, they did checks on their system and checks on the meter itself. All were ok!
It turned out that he had a leak between the meter and the house. This had been there since well before the meter was installed but obviously was not apparent. The installation of the meter picked up on the problem .
However, he was charged for this bill as the leak was in his pipework rather than theirs!

::)

Was the water meter installer negligent for not noticing any leak? If so, then surely it is the water company's fault!

Mozilla_2

Has anybody actually had the meter removed?

I am moving into a house that has a meter installed and have asked the current owner to remove the meter for me as it was only installed in April.

I want to be able to make the decision myself whether to have a meter or not, rather than having it forced upon me.

If anyone has experienced having a meter removed, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me what you need to tell the water company, how much it costs (if at all), how long it takes, and any other information you have would be great, so I can tell the current owner what he needs to do.

Thanks

jaybee

Does anyone have experience of Wessex Water? I pay £40.00 a month for water and wonder if it would be better to have a meter. Don't want it to work out more expensive. I use the washing machine and dishwasher daily. My partner will leave the water running while he cleans his teeth though (despite me asking him not to!). Any advice welcome.

Paul_Varjak

Mozilla:

I would suggest that you ask those questions of the water company involved (and OFWAT) just to be sure you get the correct answers!

However here are my 'best' answers:

I think you are correct that if water is being metered when you buy the house that you are stuck with it - even if it has been fitted less than a year!

My guess is that they do not remove the meter - simply change the method of charging!

I believe there is no charge for changing back to unmetered use and that this can be done quickly as they can charge on an unmetered basis even if a water meter is still fitted!

Of course, Water Companies may differ - though all would have to abide by OFWAT regulations.

deanos

If you move into a house with a water meter thats it you are stuck with it im affraid there is no getting away from it .

The current owner has the option to go back to rateable value as it been fitted less than a year but as soon as someone else moves in they automatically go onto the meter.

BTW the meter is not removed once its fitted thats it , it may be read every 6 months as well even though bills are not generated from it.