Yorkshire Water meter Charges question please

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone,

We had a water meter fitted last week and took a reading this morning to see how much we had used in one week.
Last Thursday when the meter was installed it read 00000 000 (obviously!) and today it reads 00001 365, so that's 1365 litres of water in a week? 1.365 cubic meters?

Before having the meter installed we paid £34.20 per month by direct debit over 12 months, so £410.40 over the year.
We are a family of 5 so I have took a bit of a gamble, but did a water calcu;ation online and figured we could be better off with a meter as we are quite water-savvy! So 1365 litres of water in a week is 195 litres per day. Is this any good for a family of 5 (2 adults/3 young kids)?

We are with Yorkshire Water and I am struggling to understand their charges on their website, but am guessing somewhere between £2.50 - £3 per cubic meter of water? Am I anywhere near right, and if so then we would be paying approx £18 max per month for water, or £216/year?

Hope someone can help or confirm what I am going on about here!
Many thanks :-)

Cardew

You have forgotten standing charges.


Assuming constant consumption, 1.365m3 in a week will mean 71m3 a year. The average UK consumption is around 55m3 per person, per year; so for a family of 5 it would be 275m3 a year. Thus your consumption is remarkably low.


Water in Yorkshire is £1.29 per m3, sewerage £1.58 m3 so £2.87 m3 combined


71 x £2.87 = £204. On top of this standing charges of £59pa for water and £49 or £2 for sewerage(depending if you have claimed relief for Surface Water Drainage)


Thus your annual bill would be £265 or £312.

[Deleted User]

Thank you so much Cardew, that explains everything very clearly and yes, I had forgotten standing charges.

Am not able to claim for Surface Water Drainage Relief, so therefore an annual bill of approx £312. £26 / month instead of £34 would still be saving about £100 per year by having a water meter, so should be worth it, but will keep an eye on usage.

I am already very good at monitoring how much energy we use, so will now just have to check the water meter too! We only pay £50 / mth on gas and electric too - am all for saving money!

I didn't know 275m3 was the average water usage for a family of 5, that means we are much lower at the moment. I hope we can keep it this way, am training my kids from a young age! This is how we currently save money on water:

We all have a shower each day (not a power shower) and turn off the taps when usig soaps / shampoo, then back on to rinse.
We go by the rule 'if it's brown flush it down...' Also have a 1 litre bottle in the cistern.
Wash up the breakfast pots in about 3inch of water in a bowl, but catch all water in jugs before it runs through warm. This water goes in the kettle etc. Do the same at teatime.
Only use the washing machine when it's full.
Turn off taps when brushing teeth.
No dishwasher, no car washing, no baths etc.
Water butt in the garden for plant pots etc.

Thanks again Cardew :-)

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

A good calculator for water is found here.

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/watermetercalculator/

A typical person uses around 50 to 55 m3 a year. So your first reading may be a little low. It would be wise to keep reading the meter, as this will help you keep a check on usage, and let you know if you have any leaks.

Cardew

Are you aware that if you applied for a meter, and it doesn't work out cheaper, you can revert back to charges based on the Rateable Value - as long as you apply within 12 months.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Blackbeard, I will be reading the meter every week to start with and then once a month at the same time as I read the gas/elec meters, so I will know how we are doing. Our meter is outside in the back garden, but is easy to lift up and check. They also put a stop-tap there too, as our other one was in a hard-to-reach place.

Cardew - yes, thank you. I have read that I can revert back to charges if it's not cheaper, or if I am only saving a few pence per month and it's really not worth all of the effort! If it looks like we are managing well and could continue to save a good amount, then I will keep it.

Thanks :-)

Cardew

bsod wrote: »

I make it, £282.13 or thereabouts pa for 71m3, until the prices go up.

What sewerage standing charge did you use?


Can you please give a breakdown?

bsod

=(82.15)+(int(71)*129/100)+(int(71)*160.7*0.95/100)

£82.15 standing charge is made up of :

water st charge rotary piston 0.5 inches £33.09

st charge sewerage band a 0-500 £47.08 +household st charge with surface drainage £1.98, total 49.06

---

71 is cubic metres pa
129 is water per m3
160.7 is sewerage treatment per m3

based on that anything below 116.5 m3 pa will be cheaper than 410.40

http://www.yorkshirewater.com/medialibrary/Annual%20Billing%202014/Charges/charges%202014.pdf

[Deleted User]

Just a quick update.

Have been using a water meter for exactly one month now. Reading on the 11th December was 00000 000, reading today is 00004 836.

So in 31 days we are averaging 156 units per day, so currently looking at approx 57m3 for the year - approx £245 including charges using your calculations.

Hopefully having a meter instead of standing charges will save us about £165/yr! x

Cardew

Have you checked if you are entitled to claim relief from Surface Water Drainage(SWD) charges; that could save you £47 a year.

[Deleted User]

Hi Cardew, just double-checked, and no I don't think we could claim relief from SWD charges. Our property slopes towards the road which has a public drain, has 2 surface water drains around the house and we have no soakaway.
Thanks anyway though :-)