Water Meter £50 a month, a dam Joke

winnie81

reading back i seem to have very cheap water?

The guy comes and reads the meter very regular too

Wickedkitten

Makes me happy that we live in a house that can't actually be metered (shares the plumbing with the house next door as it used to be one big house before it was split) and we pay less than 80 quid a year :T

cheggers

Rikki wrote:

Is your meter on the street?
Could there be an underground leak you are unaware of?

£50 a month is more than most people would pay with a bill based on their ratable value.

What size is the property and how many people?

family of 3, Live in a semi.

I have done the other night test, no leaks.

Could the meter be faulty, and the dial speed works too fast?

They say I am using 220 cubic metres of water a year.

carol_a_3

I am in an unmetered house and my annual water bill is £650. I've looked into getting a meter and it seems it will cost more as our water is one of the most expensive in the country.

Cardew

cheggers wrote:

family of 3, Live in a semi.

I have done the other night test, no leaks.

Could the meter be faulty, and the dial speed works too fast?

They say I am using 220 cubic metres of water a year.

Most water boards collect 10 DD payments a year. So are you paying £500 or £600 with your £50 monthly DD?

The size of house is really unimportant as it depends largely on the number of people in a property.

The average consumption is approx 60 cubic meters per person per year.

So at 180 cu mtrs as an average for 3 people, you are not massively above the average. Easily accounted for by, say, an older washing machine used frequently, watering garden etc.

Incidentally there is little point in people flatly stating their costs as these vary greatly according to the area of the country in which you live.

For instance 220 cu mtrs pa in my area(Severn Trent) for a semi would be £430 or £477 if your surface water drains into a sewer.

Anarchist

Tis true, water meters are almost certain to be more than the norm for anything more than one person living alone. They recommended to us (a young couple in a flat, both work five days a week) that we didn't bother getting a meter as it would definately prove more expensive

cheggers

Cardew wrote:

Most water boards collect 10 DD payments a year. So are you paying £500 or £600 with your £50 monthly DD?

The size of house is really unimportant as it depends largely on the number of people in a property.

The average consumption is approx 60 cubic meters per person per year.

So at 180 cu mtrs as an average for 3 people, you are not massively above the average. Easily accounted for by, say, an older washing machine used frequently, watering garden etc.

Incidentally there is little point in people flatly stating their costs as these vary greatly according to the area of the country in which you live.

For instance 220 cu mtrs pa in my area(Severn Trent) for a semi would be £430 or £477 if your surface water drains into a sewer.

I pay 12 month payments of £50 a month, Yorkshire water are !!!!!! turpin.

Cardew

Anarchist wrote:

Tis true, water meters are almost certain to be more than the norm for anything more than one person living alone. They recommended to us (a young couple in a flat, both work five days a week) that we didn't bother getting a meter as it would definately prove more expensive

I am sorry but that is totally incorrect.


There are several factors that determine which is the cheapest method.

The area you live, the amount of water you use, but most importantly the rateable value of your property.

I have 3 people in my house. Had I remained on the old Rateable Value I would be paying £1,194 at 2006 rates On a meter I am paying under £400.

There are plenty of posts on this forum where large families have changed to a meter and made large savings.

The majority of people will save by being on a meter. In general the exceptions are those with a property with a very low Rateable Value or large families who use a lot of water.

You don't say who made the recommendation to you that you shouldn't get a meter(and it could be true) However the statement that "water meters are almost certain to be more than the norm for anything more than one person living alone." is certainly not accurate.

hazeyj

If you ring the water company they can tell when your consumption started to increase. My bill jumped from 20 to 70 a month and when I queried it they say it jumped up in May last year. Were waiting for the water board to come out to check for leaks.

Mikeyorks

cheggers wrote:

Could the meter be faulty, and the dial speed works too fast?

They say I am using 220 cubic metres of water a year.

Well we certainly had one that went too slow .. then stopped. But I suspect it didn't help that Yorks Water initially fitted it upside down .. so it went backwards. And chalked up 9999 cu mtrs overnight. So they just re-fitted it the right way round .. and it played up ever thereafter.

But since sorted - the 2 of us average 2.25 cu mtrs/ week over 9 months of last year. Which will be around 100 cu mtrs for the year - as we do use a bit more on the garden in the summer, already factored in the 2.25.

I'm fairly conscious of use - but the OH isn't. Surprised she doesn't drown in the overfilled daily bath and washing machine / dishwasher are daily at least. So your usage of 220 cu mtrs is high and you've either got a problem with the meter. Or some facet of how you use water is more excessive than most? We had a bore hole supply at the last place (£5 per year!) - but used 50% more water than we do now. That is simply down to having a dishwasher now. It's so water efficient it uses a fifth of what the OH used when washing pots by hand.

But if it's not the meter, and the consumption has suddenly increased - you should be able to track it back to something that's upped your consumption? Even if it's a 'one-off' such as laying a new lawn and having to water it daily during the dry period even Yorkshire had a few months ago?