Water meters - pros and cons?

wishitgrewontrees

Hi
We moved house in August & have received letter to say Severn Trent are going to fit water meter, whether we want it or not. The letter stated that this information would come up in searches prior to buying house, but it didn't.
I guess we can't do anything about this & will have to have a water meter.
Has anyone experienced the same situation & know if it will cost a fortune? Our rates in our previous 2 bed terrace were only £160 pa. We are now in 3 bed semi, 2 adults, 2 kids, approx 4 baths, 14 showers, 6 wash machine pw plus average use for cooking, drinks, washing up, toilet flushing, car washing etc
Thanks for any advice

Cardew

wishitgrewontrees wrote: »

Hi
We moved house in August & have received letter to say Severn Trent are going to fit water meter, whether we want it or not. The letter stated that this information would come up in searches prior to buying house, but it didn't.
I guess we can't do anything about this & will have to have a water meter.
Has anyone experienced the same situation & know if it will cost a fortune? Our rates in our previous 2 bed terrace were only £160 pa. We are now in 3 bed semi, 2 adults, 2 kids, approx 4 baths, 14 showers, 6 wash machine pw plus average use for cooking, drinks, washing up, toilet flushing, car washing etc
Thanks for any advice

Welcome to the forum.

Yes you have no options to refuse.

If average consumption for 4 people with Severn Trent around £500 to £600 a year.

wishitgrewontrees

Thanks, will have to save pennies or go mucky then!

Gothicfairy

One thing to do is email STW and ask for a hippo for the toilet and see if they have any shower savers left ? ( they might be out now but could add you to the list)

Also some tips to remember :

Turn off the water when brushing teeth
If possible turn off the water in between a shower, so what I mean is get wet, turn off water and shampoo hair, water on..Turn water off and condition etc..You don't need to do that every time but it will help.
If running water for hot use the cold for a the kettle, pot for cooking veg, bowl for dog water, garden..anything other then waste it.
Check your meter once a month and take note of the reading , fix any leak on taps straight away and if anything happens with the meter..ie it stops or starts running when nothing is on report it straight away.

Also cut down on baths as they use a load of water.

Oh and stop washing the car when it does not really need a wash or use grey water first ( ie once used water like bath water)

Get a water butt and use that for the garden ( STW offer a deal with a company who will be able to offer you a cheaper butt , ask them when you email them)

wishitgrewontrees

Many thanks Gothicfairy for the useful tips

MiKes_2

I am glad to have arranged with UU to install a water meter at my small, 2 bedroomed bungalow.
For 3 years I was paying £400 a year for water services. After the water meter was put in, the bill dropped to £200 a year. The meter seemed to have worked, financially for me.
I wonder though. Is there anyway I could claim for "over charging", for the years before the water meter?

Cardew

MiKes wrote: »

I wonder though. Is there anyway I could claim for "over charging", for the years before the water meter?

No you can't back-claim, we have had the opportunity to change to charges based on meters for the last 20 years.

Gothicfairy

People really need to get over this " over charging " stuff...There is no such thing when going from RV to meter. Both are correct rates of charge and as such it is down to the customer to apply for a meter and until you do that the RV charge remains correct and payable.

dreem

I switched to a water meter 12 months ago, our family of two adults and two young kids saw out monthly bill drop by almost 40% - Annoyingly, I instigated the swithc to the meter by calling Severn Trent to enquire... Initially they gave me a calculated usage estimate and told me i' be better off staying with the monthly unlimited usage payment! How wrong could they be!

Yorkshire_Pud

Of those who tried moving from RV to Meter did anyone move back to RV after/within 12 months?

Did the online water usage calculators reflect actual use after a meter was fitted?

Is uSwitch the best calculator or is it better to ask your water supplier?

How longs a piece of string!?:cool: