average water useage- what do you use?

mrs_baggins

any ideas on what people use? I am on meter and live alone. I must admit (shame!) to not flushing toilet every time I use it! I never hose garden/car etc. I do like a bath but have started not having deep ones. I prob have bath 4 times a week and shower at gym rest of time. I wash up by hand but not loads. My main thing i guess is washine machine. I do my sons washing which is not every week but maybe out of a month I may do 6 loads for him. However my bills do seem fairly high. I pay by dd and its £34 a month which seems to be right at the end of the period. Apart from not having a bath at all I cant see how i can reduce any more. (I do sons washing for good reasons which I wont go into) I am not sure how much water I actually use as I hav not been keeping tabs on it but any guides would be good!

gatita

It depends what region of the country you live as to how much you pay. Where I live (S. West) the cost of water & sewerage is outrageous, we live, husband and I, in a 2 bed bungalow, and pay approx each quarter £140. So, consider yourself lucky!!!!

ceh209

Water prices can double from the north to the south - where in the country do you live? (your water company's name is probably best)

If it helps, I'm at the expensive end of the country (wessex water) and pay £32 a month for 2 people (showers not baths)

I assume from your post you are on a meter?

mrs_baggins

yes am on meter and my provider is severn trent maybe I should start monitoring to get a better idea

just checked my last bill and after calculating and averaging out over a year I seem to be using 0.18 cubic m a day or 65 a year. no idea how this relates to others.

Gothicfairy

This is a sort of how long is a bit of string question.
Does your payment amount include any arrears ? How long have you had the meter and how old is the plan ?

1 cubic meter is 1000 litres and around 60m2 per year is average for one person so based on that I would not say you were a high user and a bath will use more then a shower (depending on power shower of course)

scooo

From Anglian Waters checklist:

"The average daily consumption per head in Anglian Water's region is: 150 litres" (that's 0.15cu Litres I believe).
I don't see how the region would make any particularly significant difference to the usage so I'd say 0.18 looks about right given the details you've quoted.

Don't give up though if you think it's wrong, I've just had £1000 refunded to me after 5yrs of fighting and A/Water who now say the meter was "fitted incorrectly which meant it leaked air causing it to over read".
I'm not accepting that though and am pushing forward for proper investigation & assurance that steps have been taken to look at this properly, I mean seriously, how many people have been overcharged like this and been unable to fight for that long? I find it despicable and totally unacceptable that such a vital commodity can be handled so flippantly.

mcc100

scooo wrote: »

From Anglian Waters checklist:


Don't give up though if you think it's wrong, I've just had £1000 refunded to me after 5yrs of fighting and A/Water who now say the meter was "fitted incorrectly which meant it leaked air causing it to over read".

I really would like to know exactly how a meter fitted incorrectly can leak air causing it to over read. Do you have more detailed information?

mackemdave

mrs_baggins wrote: »

any ideas on what people use? I am on meter and live alone. I must admit (shame!) to not flushing toilet every time I use it! I never hose garden/car etc. I do like a bath but have started not having deep ones. I prob have bath 4 times a week and shower at gym rest of time. I wash up by hand but not loads. My main thing i guess is washine machine. I do my sons washing which is not every week but maybe out of a month I may do 6 loads for him. However my bills do seem fairly high. I pay by dd and its £34 a month which seems to be right at the end of the period. Apart from not having a bath at all I cant see how i can reduce any more. (I do sons washing for good reasons which I wont go into) I am not sure how much water I actually use as I hav not been keeping tabs on it but any guides would be good!

Your bill is far to high...are you certain the water company know you are on a meter...do your bills show you meter readings???

Can you get access to your meter to start logging a weekly usage ...Im on my own and bill is around £10/mth

mrs_baggins

thank you all for your input. I now must admit something I didnt know!! I had a long conversation with severn trent last night and it seems that my bill is 'average' use for one person. However I went into why my monthy amount is so high it appears that back in 2008 when myson/gf was living with me the bill jumped alarminghly to that of a calculated 5 people!!! Without understanding how their bills work it seems that with the amount I was then paying per month wasnt enough to cover the bill so I have been paying £130 odd pound off in arrears since then but they did say that my next bill is due in feb and by then I should be in credit.

Feel a bit of a fraud now asking the question in first place but now at least i know a bit more about my usage which they tell me is average for a single person

Gothicfairy

Sounds about right, I did wonder about arrears as that is often the case with payment plans.
Glad it got sorted and once your arrears are done you should see your bill going down

scooo

mcc100 wrote: »

I really would like to know exactly how a meter fitted incorrectly can leak air causing it to over read. Do you have more detailed information?

Exactly what I asked, seems impossible to me hence my request for an explanation which they couldn't/wouldn't answer.

I asked for the meter to be checked (since it's now been removed) but she said they'd lost/thrown it.
I asked how drawing air could cause an over-read and she said it just does but couldn't explain. This was a senior manager I was talking to who seemed pretty knowledgable.
I asked if this would lead them to reconsider their "meters don't fail" policy and she said no, this was a one-off case.

So I've taken it to the Consumer Council for water.

If a meter fails once - others can fail.
If an engineer can instal it wrong once - all engineers can.
If their policy is not to believe or take it seriously then how do others get a just & fair service?

If I get a refund - what difference does that make to all the other people who may be/may have been overcharged?
The whole setup stinks to me and if I don't do my bit they continue to get away with it. I complained for 10/5 years about this, that's far too long.