Failed water meter 27 September 2015 at 7:44AM in Water bills 4 replies 2.3K views

brewerdave

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 ??

Cardew

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.

Ms_Chocaholic

If the latter is the case, try not to use too much water during the 2 week estimation period

brewerdave

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

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 !!