Failed water meter

Had a meter fitted just over 3 years ago for potential (and achieved!) savings of ~ £300pa.
First meter had to be replaced after just a month when I realised it was running backwards !!
On Friday,meter reader came and I discovered that this second meter has now stopped working as the latest figure is identical to the reading in late March !!
Two questions - 1) if this has happened to anyone else,how have you been charged ? On an average basis from previous usage periods?
and 2) when I reported to Welsh Water the agent looked at back records and stated the meter had reached the end of its working life :eek:Surely a simple mechanical water meter should last ~ 20 years at least ??

Comments

  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036
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    They could base it on previous consumption, or read the new meter, and take another reading, say, 2 weeks later.


    Based on that 2 weeks consumption they will estimate consumption.
  • If the latter is the case, try not to use too much water during the 2 week estimation period :)
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,489
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    Cardew wrote: »
    They could base it on previous consumption, or read the new meter, and take another reading, say, 2 weeks later.


    Based on that 2 weeks consumption they will estimate consumption.

    Based on how long it took Welsh Water to find and reestablish my stop !!!! when it got buried by the Council:eek: and the fact that they have only actually read the meter 5 times in 3 years, I think it unlikely that they will bill on your second suggestion as they seem to suffer from the same manpower shortages as other utility firms . :(
    I'm really after anyone who has a practical example even better if it's in Wales - my usage figures appear to be a bit up and down for some reason - presumably because the garden has had more water some years than others - so I think I'd be OK if they used an average basis.
  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,489
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    For completeness, I received a bill from Welsh Water based on an estimated usage -no explanation, but appears to be based on the previous year's average usage Sept 13 -Sept 14 -probably slightly in my favour as we tend to use more in the Summer 6 months.
    The water meter was replaced yesterday -and the fitter suggested that quite a few of these mechanical meters were failing !!
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