TRying to understand our water consumption

Little_Miss_Sunshine

This is my first post so be genlte:)

I'm trying to understand our massive water consumption. I'm trying to hammer down all our bills and so far
gas £30 pm
elec £50 pm
water £62 pm:eek:
We had a new water meter fitted last year on 27 June (The last one was taken out when we had the kitchen done and it took seven trent about 3 months to fit a new one:D)

It now reads 22313 - so I workout that in roughly 427 days we have used 55Cm per day.

My question is - is that alot? I see some people pay £25pm but I know prices vary wildly so its had to compare.

We are 4 people - Me, OH, DD age 13, DD age 10. I use the dishwasher everyday. The washing machine goes on around 5X per week. 4 showers a day with the occasional bath. My eldest daughter likes long showers - Ive introduced the 4 minute shower and its not gone down well but I'm sticking to it.
No spinkler but we did fill the paddling pool a few times in July.

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

gardner1

4 people in house with water meter....:eek: sounds like a big no no to me
this link might be of help
http://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water-services/water-meters/water-meter-calculator.aspx

HappyMJ

Little_Miss_Sunshine wrote: »

This is my first post so be genlte:)

I'm trying to understand our massive water consumption. I'm trying to hammer down all our bills and so far
gas £30 pm
elec £50 pm
water £62 pm:eek:
We had a new water meter fitted last year on 27 June (The last one was taken out when we had the kitchen done and it took seven trent about 3 months to fit a new one:D)

It now reads 22313 - so I workout that in roughly 427 days we have used 55Cm per day.

My question is - is that alot? I see some people pay £25pm but I know prices vary wildly so its had to compare.

We are 4 people - Me, OH, DD age 13, DD age 10. I use the dishwasher everyday. The washing machine goes on around 5X per week. 4 showers a day with the occasional bath. My eldest daughter likes long showers - Ive introduced the 4 minute shower and its not gone down well but I'm sticking to it.
No spinkler but we did fill the paddling pool a few times in July.

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Are you reading the meter correctly?

The last digit or two tends to be ignored so are you sure it's 22313 and not 223.[STRIKE]13[/STRIKE] The average for a family of 4 is to use about 0.6 cubic metres per day. So at 223 that would be about right. A cubic metre of water costs around £2 (depending on area) so if you really had used 22313 then you bill would be around £44,000 where £440 plus standing charges is much closer to average. So £62 might be about right.

Little_Miss_Sunshine

Thanks for the quick replies - sorry its 223 (the last 2 units are in red). Well, its nice to know we are not using too much even though it still costs too much.
I thought you couldnt go back to unmetered payments. Our next door neighbour is a family of 5 and they're not on a meter and pay £50pm.
I'll look into it though.
Thanks again

HappyMJ

Little_Miss_Sunshine wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies - sorry its 223 (the last 2 units are in red). Well, its nice to know we are not using too much even though it still costs too much.
I thought you couldnt go back to unmetered payments. Our next door neighbour is a family of 5 and they're not on a meter and pay £50pm.
I'll look into it though.
Thanks again

You have left it too late to switch back....so you need to get your water consumption down. Do you have low flush toilets? Low flow showers? It is possible to get average usage per person per day down by half from average but it takes a lot of effort.

You can call your water company and they should help.

matelodave

You can get flow restrictors for taps and showers which reduce the amount of water flowing. A shower can easily get through 12-18ltres a minute, whereas with a flow restrictor it gives a perfectly adequate 5-6 litres a minute. See if your water company gives them away.

Likewise teach people to turn the tap off when brushing teeth rather than letting it run down the plughole - use a glass for rinsing.

Have you got an economy setting on the washing machine and you might be able to reduce the number of washes by making sure you are running it with full loads or pressing the half-load button if that's all that's in it.

Don't overfill the kettle when just making a cup or two of coffee or tea - its taken me a year to persuade my wife that we don't need to boil up a whole kettlefull just for one cup or two - this saves both water and electricity.

It's not hard to change habits which can save both water, gas and electricity and more importantly money - I'm not a green crusader I just don't like spending more than I need to.

Cardew

You haven't said your water company - prices vary tremendously across the UK.

Your consumption is about average. However 223 cubic metres water/sewerage would cost well over £1,000 in the South West to under £400 in other areas.

Are you being charged for Surface Water Drainage?(SWD) You can claim relief from that charge if your water from gutters etc goes to soakaways and doesn't enter the sewerage system.

Little_Miss_Sunshine

Hi Thanks again for the replies. Time to get tough on the water front I think. I'm going to get a cheap timer for the bathroom - 4 minute showers here we come!
I'll contact seven trent tomorrow and see what they offer. I'm going to monitor it daily and see how we go. My worry is that it will just go up and up if we don't do something.

Little_Miss_Sunshine

Just ordered (all free) a few things from seven trent -fingers crossed

Little_Miss_Sunshine

Cardew wrote: »

You haven't said your water company - prices vary tremendously across the UK.

Your consumption is about average. However 223 cubic metres water/sewerage would cost well over £1,000 in the South West to under £400 in other areas.

Are you being charged for Surface Water Drainage?(SWD) You can claim relief from that charge if your water from gutters etc goes to soakaways and doesn't enter the sewerage system.

I'm with Seven Trent. We are charged for SWD - I'm not sure how I could change the guttering etc.
Thanks

HappyMJ

Little_Miss_Sunshine wrote: »

I'm with Seven Trent. We are charged for SWD - I'm not sure how I could change the guttering etc.
Thanks

You can't change anything your surface(rain) water either drains into public drains or it does not and soaks into the ground instead.