Water Meter Nightmare. Have we got a leak?

MamBear

Hi MoneySavers,

We moved into a nice new rented apartment 16 months ago. Our gas bill is ridiculously low as the appartment is so well insulated we haven't even had to put the heating on yet this autumn!

Unfortunately, our water bill isn't the same. We had a massive bill of over £300 for our first 6 months. I was totally shocked. We are 2 adults and one baby, but my partner works away in the week. We did use the washing machine and the dishwasher a lot though, so when i called up to query the amount the woman said - you're on a meter, the bill amount is right. This is even though the bill was double what the average household spends in a year, and only covered 6 months.

I just believed her and we paid, but over the past 10 months I have been really careful with our usuage. We have totally stopped using the dishwater, and have been having showers instead of baths etc.

I just called to give a meter reading and was shocked to see that our usuage has only gone down a little bit, and due to the price increase since April the actual amount we pay hasn;t changed at all. How can this be if we have totally stopped using the dishwasher and we used to use it at least 5 times a week on an intensive wash?

I have asked them to come and see if there is a leak, and the woman did say that the bill is high for a small family. I just don't know what I can do if they come back and say there isn't a leak. Surely I have some right to dispute the amount that they say I am using? I just can't believe we use 4x more water than the average household and feel we are being ripped off.

Any advice would be appreciated :money:

Thanks
Rachel

p.s it's Welsh Water

photogeek

155 litres of water per head per day is the average consumption in the UK (including industrial use, irrigation etc).

In order to be able to give you a sensible answer it would be nice to know how many litres or cubic metres you have consumed over the past six month.

ilikewatch

Well, if there is a leak and it's registering on the meter, it's almost certainly:
a) Your landlords problem, not the water companies - the pipework on "your" side of the meter is generally the responsibility of the homeowner.
b) Easy to prove/disprove - just make sure all taps etc. are turned off, then take a meter reading just before leaving the house for an hour or so, then check the meter again when you get in. If there's no change you don't have a leak, if there is a change then you do and should get your landlord to call a plumber.

EDIT: If possible take a meter reading before and after going away for a couple of days - I say this because many years ago I lived in a flat in which we eventually discovered that half the neighbours flat was supplied by my meter, but it took ages before I realised this as the extra water was (obviously!) only used when the neighbour was running the tap/flushing the loo etc.

mart.vader

ilikewatch wrote: »

Well, if there is a leak and it's registering on the meter, it's almost certainly:
a) Your landlords problem, not the water companies - the pipework on "your" side of the meter is generally the responsibility of the homeowner.
b) Easy to prove/disprove - just make sure all taps etc. are turned off, then take a meter reading just before leaving the house for an hour or so, then check the meter again when you get in. If there's no change you don't have a leak, if there is a change then you do and should get your landlord to call a plumber.

a) is not quite correct - Although for convenience, it is usually said that everything "down-stream" of your meter is the customer's responsibility, this is not correct.

It should really be "everything down-stream of the meter and also on the customer's property, is the customer's legal responsibility".

Even Water Companies, rapacious b*stards that they are, would not be able to make you liable for leaks not on your property.

That said, for some years, Water Co's, to get the leakage rate down and to score Brownie points with OFWAT, have offered a subsidised leak repair service for leaks on the customer's property. NB this does not apply to commercial premises and the Water Co will class your landlord as a commercial enterprise. They also offer a "leak allowance" for the first leak that occurs (but not subsequent leaks) that result in an increased water bill.

OP - see if you have a leak using ilikewatch's suggestions - if you have, then ask the Water Co to find out where it is. As you are in a rented apartment, it might be on the landlords or the freeholders property rather than yours.

If the leak, if there is one, is on your property, (which in this case, it seems might be in or under your flat) then ask the Water Co for a "Leak Allowance Form" -

Edit: Hmm, Just looked at the Welsh Water website. There's nothing about a leak allowance, and it says "Metered charges are based on the amount of water used plus a fixed standing fee. You are responsible for any leaks on your supply. Therefore we advise all customers to check for leaks on a regular basis. "

If this is to be taken literally, then Welsh water are out-of-step with all the other Water Co.s in the UK.

MamBear

Thanks everyone. That's really useful. The water company have arranged to send an engineer round to see if there is a leak, but I will also do what ilikewatch says and take a meter reading before and after I've been away for the weekend to check consumption over a long period of time.

If there is a leak, and it is my landlord's responsibility, do you think I can claim any money back from him as we've been paying such high water bills?

macman

Have you checked the meter serial no. versus the serial no. on your bills to see if you are being billed on the correct meter?
As any leak is obviously downstream of the meter, it's not the water co's concern-it's the landlord's-and yours.

skintandscared_2

We have exactly the same problem of huge water bills (2 bed flat, 2 of us both out all day, don't have a dishwasher, 1 shower each a day, 1 lot of dishes done but they want £50 a month by direct debit).

I had a Veolia water man out today to check our meter. Firstly, you don't need to take a reading and check again later. Just see if the little metal disc in the centre of the metre is moving round (it has spiky edges, so it's easy to see if it is). If it's moving, water is flowing in your property somewhere.

We had a bit of a shock. The meter which has our flat number on, and has been used for all our readings, is NOT our meter!!! :eek: As soon as I turned the tap on, the water man turned off our supply - and it's a totally different meter to the one we thought was ours. He actually told me that in blocks of flats it's quite normal for them to GUESS which meter supplies which flat!!

When I called the water company to notify them of what had happened, the girl told me we would need to supply another reading in 2 weeks so they could estimate our correct bill. I replied, surely you already have readings of this meter going back to day one - you just currently have those readings registered against a different flat number?! She said.... "oh yeah, I didn't think of that" :rotfl:

My advice - go down to the meter point with your mobile phone and call your OH in your property. Look at the meters and tell him to turn a tap on. See which meter starts moving and check it's the one with your apartment number on it! If you are being recorded on the wrong meter, or the meter is moving when your taps are off, you need to call out your water company. Good luck!

lapat

where is your meter located internally or externally..????????????

skintandscared_2

lapat wrote: »

where is your meter located internally or externally..????????????

I don't know if that was for me or the OP, but our meters are external. We are a block of six luxury flats and the meters are in the pavement outside our car park.

uncovered

one thing i would check is your toilets. are they the new modern style with internal overflows? I go to many flats with high consumption and would say the majority of the problems are caused by water running down the the toilet.

Just have a quick check, if your toilet has the short and long flush button on the top, no overflow pipe going through your wall to outside then just have a look at the back wall of the basin. If you can see water trickling down the back then this will be your problem.

As for skintandsacred's comment, that problem is so common in blocks of flats. When we go for the trench inspections when they are being built we insist on the builders numbering each supply pipe to show which flat they are feeding. Then we fit the meters and obviously update our accounts system. The problem lies in that the builders make mistakes, deliberately or not who knows, but it comes to light sometimes decades down the line when a flat changes occupier or becomes empty and the readings change.

skintandscared_2

The first thing we were told to check when I queried our bill was our toilet. We have one of those suspended ones that don't touch the floor and it has the double-flush panel. You can't see the cistern at all. But no water trickles down the back of the pan.