Has anyone reverted back to unmetered supply?

HappyMJ

ey143 wrote: »

Very good point, I guess what I meant was, with a big house comes a big garden and the watering etc that goes with it as well. When you put it that way, then yes unlike heating a home it is not the same thing. Perhaps when used to an unmetered supply for all of my life and now the thought of paying per unit, sometimes being in your comfort zone takes some breaking down. Like I say, initially I would be better off with only a meter as there is only 2 adults and a baby, but may want to rent out some rooms etc. More smelly people to show and wash clothes, but yes, size of house is not directly relevant unless all rooms are occupied.

You may want to investigate installing a meter on your outside tap. If you can demonstrate that less than 90% of your water used is not used inside your house then you can get a small reduction on your waste water charges. However, the charges for the meter itself and it's occasional calibration may exceed any possible savings. You'll need to check with your waste water company to see if they allow that.

You can also investigate if the property you purchase is subject to surface water drainage charges. Some properties do not drain any water to the public sewer and drain elsewhere such as a creek and/or a soakaway. You could get a bill reduction.

ey143

Interesting I never knew that. What is the source of that information?

With regards to surface water drainage, if I know that there is a waste gulley drain on the front garden and the rain water waste pipes lead into a drain, should I not assume they all feed into the same gulley?

HappyMJ

ey143 wrote: »

Interesting I never knew that. What is the source of that information?

With regards to surface water drainage, if I know that there is a waste gulley drain on the front garden and the rain water waste pipes lead into a drain, should I not assume they all feed into the same gulley?

Thames Water for one... http://www.thameswater.co.uk/your-account/1352.htm

Section B4 in the claim form shows submetering which you can use to prove how much was used outside the property...remember that a 10% reduction has already been made so any meter reading needs to show more than 10% of the main water meter to make any saving..

You can google your waste water company to see if your waste water company allows it.

You need to ask the current occupier if they know. The property title may show whether the water drains into the gully...it may not.

macman

ey143 wrote: »

Ok thx for that. Looks like I might have been misinformed by the individual. Do you know whether it is possible to have the meter removed completely by the current owners?

Thx.

Meters are never removed. If you revert to RV billing (which you can't in this case) then the meter is disregarded, but remains in situ.

macman

MillicentBystander wrote: »

HappyMJ is absolutely correct on this one. Now our kids have flown the nest we are putting our house on the market and did inquire with our local water supplier about the possibility of having a meter installed. It was only when we looked at it in detail that we discovered the 'metered by force T&C' for any new owner of our house. We continue to overpay for our water on the assumption that any new occupier would prefer the choice of being metered or not.

But if your supplier enforces metering for new customers, they won't have any choice. And, if they don't, there is no evidence that the presence of a water meter is a deal-breaker for prospective purchasers.

skitler

ey143 wrote: »

I'm about to buy a house which was in Jan of this year had a water meter put in.

We have requested that this is reversed before we take ownership because if not, we would be unable to do this once we are the new occupiers. Affinity Water have advised only the current owners can request a reversion to unmetered and also only within 12 months of the installation.

My question is, can someone who had done this, highlight their experience of doing so. Am I correct in thinking that they will not take out the meter but simply change the billing on their system to unmetered? No physical visit is made by anyone and the meter itself remains permanently there, it just doesn't get monitored?



The reason I am doing this is because the house is quite large and whilst there will only be 2 adults and a baby and we would be better off with a meter, as the family grows and watering a large garden, washing and development of the property, I am concerned that we might better off on unmetered. In any case, I can request we are switched on for metered once I have ownership and have 12 months to decide for myself if this is economical or not.

Thx.

the answer to your 3 questions is yes, yes, yes.:j:j:j

ey143

Well as a prospective buyer myself the vendor agreed to have the billing reverted but since I have confirmed with Affinity Water that metered billing will be forced upon me, I'm not going to give up the house just because of that even though I tried my best to have it reverted.