Water meters - pros and cons?

Cardew

anotheruser wrote: »

Surely it all depends on the house though.
I pay £200 a year for my water use, non-meter. I consider that to be very good value. But then I guess if I paid £70 every 6 months then that is a lot cheaper.

There are just two main factors to be considered if considering a meter.

The Rateable Value of your property, and the level of water consumption.

As stated many times, the RV can vary tremendously and it is quite possible, albeit unusual, for a 6 bed mansion in several acres to have a lower RV than a 2 bed estate semi.

Once you know your RV - it is on the bill or the water company will tell you - you can accurately work out your annual bill from the charges on the company website.

You need to contrast that RV charge with metered charges based on your estimated consumption. A ballpark figure is to allow 50 cubic metres, per person, per year. Again those charges are on the company website

John_Pierpoint

There are two other factors that I find very significant:
Do you pay sewerage - ie are you connected to a water company sewer?
Do you need to water your garden?

It is very frustrating to pay for the drinking water, put it on the garden and pay on the assumption it is being treated at the local sewage works.
In the current weather, just spending an hour watering, tubs, troughs, hanging baskets and window boxes costs £s.
My lawn just has to go brown.
Rich folks are sinking their own bore holes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5094062.stm

angelsmomma

I pay £19.98 a month on the old RV system in a large 3 bed terrace. When I lived just around the corner in a 2 bed terrace with a meter I paid £50 a month.

I will never change to a meter unless I am forced to. I would not buy a house with one fitted either.

Cardew

angelsmomma wrote: »

I pay £19.98 a month on the old RV system in a large 3 bed terrace. When I lived just around the corner in a 2 bed terrace with a meter I paid £50 a month.

I will never change to a meter unless I am forced to. I would not buy a house with one fitted either.

That demonstrates perfectly why meters should be mandatory!

The water companies have the power to fit a meter on change of occupant, it is a pity that not all companies enforce that regulation.

Whilst, obviously, there is no blame for you taking that stance(we would all do the same in your circumstances) all it means is that an unfair system is made worse.

esmecullen

I've applied for a meter............but unsure whether, according to the water company's criteria if it is feasible for me to have one.........basically I:

live in a one-bed flat
single occupant..............out most days until evening
current water billing is on RV
south east water supply drinking water
southern water deal with sewerage, etc

given that I have to deal with 2 separate companies.................is it worth me getting a meter???????????????????? (have asked this question to south east & southern in separate emails but havent received any reply)

TIA

Cardew

esmecullen wrote: »

I've applied for a meter............but unsure whether, according to the water company's criteria if it is feasible for me to have one.........basically I:

live in a one-bed flat
single occupant..............out most days until evening
current water billing is on RV
south east water supply drinking water
southern water deal with sewerage, etc

given that I have to deal with 2 separate companies.................is it worth me getting a meter???????????????????? (have asked this question to south east & southern in separate emails but havent received any reply)

TIA

Unless the RV on your one-bed flat is extremely low, you almost certainly will benefit from a meter.

Dealing with two companies makes no difference to the statement above. You pay SE water for water based on consumption + a standing charge and Southern water for sewerage based the same amount of water - again plus a standing charge.

In any case if it didn't work out cheaper, you have 12 months to revert back to charging based on RV.

sazzer

Does anyone have any experience with Wessex Water? Our sewerage charge is more than the water charge (not on a meter) I'm considering switching to a meter and based on their calculator it would probably save us some money. We are two adults with two kids.

Cardew

sazzer wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience with Wessex Water? Our sewerage charge is more than the water charge (not on a meter) I'm considering switching to a meter and based on their calculator it would probably save us some money. We are two adults with two kids.

It is not necessary to have experience with Wessex water.

You need to calculate how much your metered water bill will be based on a average consumption(for four persons) of around 220 cubic metres per year. See:

http://www.wessexwater.co.uk/customers/threecol.aspx?id=254

For 220 cubic metres it would be £951.72(possibly £931.72)

The average is 55 cubic metres per person per year, but many can use much less.

Also if you find a meter is not cheaper, you can revert back to your current charging system.

ria.c_3

I'd love to have the opportunity to have a meter fitted as I'm a single person who is very frugal with water consumption. I believe it to be a valuable commodity that shouldn't be wasted. However, three engineers have been out from Thames Water (within the space of a few months, approx 2 years ago) and given three different reasons why I shouldn't have one fitted. A water leak outside and underground that I hadn't know about meant it couldn't be done (so I had it fixed at my own expense), then my garden wall was too close to the place they would fit the meter, so the meter would have to be put inside. Then it couldn't be fitted inside as my new posh kitchen cupboards have backs to them and there's no access to the pipes under the sink...??!! I'm guessing that too could easily be remedied - is there a general trend of people who might benefit not being able to get meters? Can I do anything about it?

usignuolo

We live in a largeish house with a chargeable value of £314 for water and another £314 for wastewater, which means our annual bill from Thames Water is nearly £500. The family has flown the nest so there are only two of us living here and I assume it would be cheaper to have a meter.

I have looked up what our consumption/bills would be with a meter and it looks like, for water, it would be the same cost but there is no indication of whether it would be lower or higher for wastewater.

Anyone able to recommend any sites where we can work this out.