Why are my bills higher than others?

Legacy_user

I live alone in a 2 bedroom flat built in 2009. I have showers instead of baths, run the washer on 5 loads a week and toilet is flushed about 40 times a week.

My DD with Severn Trent is £14.85 pcm.

Now, I have two colleagues that again live on their own in the same area in two bed terraces - built 1979-82 and their monthly DDs are about £8-9 a month.

We are all on meters.

Why is my monthly direct debit almost double? My meter is one of three - my flat, my neighbour in the flat below me and a house that is at 90 degrees to the flats. Its on the pavement and never been told which one belongs to me and if I did know which one it was, I wouldn't be able to read it as chances are, its too deep down and covered in water, as a previous property, i lived in, the meter was at the front and with the help of a small pot, I was able to read the meter after filling several pots of water.

Do you think a call to ST will be a good idea?

edwink

When you say you use a shower instead of having a bath. Is it a Power Shower? Maybe the others you are comparing your use to are not using a Power Shower.

How many loads of washing do they do per week? Five seems rather a lot for one person for you. There are 2 of us in our house and we do 2 loads a week max.

Do you wash up by hand or do you have a dishwasher. If you don't have a dishwasher they might. My dishwasher uses 6 litres of water for the whole cycle. We put it on every 3 days or so. Whereas washing up by hand can use just as much but every day.

Little changes you can make to your usage can make a big difference as we have found out ourselves. We are on a meter too.


I would ring your water company and ask them to find out which meter is yours. Then I would make sure all the water is off in your flat and check the meter to see if the dial is moving round. If it is I would contact your water company about it. You may have a leak somewhere from the meter to your flat. No necessarily a leak inside your flat but somewhere along the way.


Hope that is some help.

Cardew

With Severn Trent your standing charges will be £43.31 a year. with an extra £33pa if you are paying for surface water drainage.(probably unlikely)


The average consumption for a single person is 55 cubic metres(m3) a year.The water/sewerage charge per m3 is 236.47p so for average consumption would be £130pa this comes to £173pa so £14.45 a month if 12 payments a year(ST sometimes have 10 payments)


It is important to note that a debit or credit balance carried forward from the previous year will affect monthly payments this year.


So you are not paying more than an average user.

matelodave

It's not hard to check which meter you are paying for
Step 1 - check the bill and find the meter serial number
Step 2 - go and open the meter covers to find out which meter has the same serial number.
Step 3 - Makes sure it's the one that's connected to your property by turning everything off and checking that it doesn't rotate.


Now you've identified the meter you can read it yourself regularly and start making some savings.


How many showers do you have? how long do you stand in there? a 10 minute shower uses twice as much water and energy as a 5 minute one. Fit a flow restrictor on the shower & taps - many water companies give them away for free.


As said above, use the washing machine less by making sure that it's full, same with the dishwasher if you have one. Half loads use just as much water & leccy as full ones.


Don't let water run down the sink when washing your hands, cleaning your teeth or rinsing stuff. Use cold water as much as possible rather than wasting the runoff to get hot water and then leaving the pipes full of hot water to waste energy as well.


Learn how to only use as much water as you need when filling kettles or saucepans which not only saves water but energy as well.

Peter333

ScarletMarble wrote: »

I live alone in a 2 bedroom flat built in 2009. I have showers instead of baths, run the washer on 5 loads a week and toilet is flushed about 40 times a week.

My DD with Severn Trent is £14.85 pcm.

Now, I have two colleagues that again live on their own in the same area in two bed terraces - built 1979-82 and their monthly DDs are about £8-9 a month.

We are all on meters.

Why is my monthly direct debit almost double? My meter is one of three - my flat, my neighbour in the flat below me and a house that is at 90 degrees to the flats. Its on the pavement and never been told which one belongs to me and if I did know which one it was, I wouldn't be able to read it as chances are, its too deep down and covered in water, as a previous property, i lived in, the meter was at the front and with the help of a small pot, I was able to read the meter after filling several pots of water.

Do you think a call to ST will be a good idea?

£14 a month sounds OK for what you say you use.

As someone said above, 5 loads of washing for one person is a lot. Me and the ladymissus, only do 2 a week. (Only us 2 in our house, all 3 kids have left... )

Call ST if you're concerned, but your bill amount sounds fab.

Peter333

matelodave wrote: »

It's not hard to check which meter you are paying for
Step 1 - check the bill and find the meter serial number
Step 2 - go and open the meter covers to find out which meter has the same serial number.
Step 3 - Makes sure it's the one that's connected to your property by turning everything off and checking that it doesn't rotate.


How many showers do you have? how long do you stand in there?

a 10 minute shower uses twice as much water and energy as a 5 minute one.

Fit a flow restrictor on the shower & taps - many water companies give them away for free.

Sorry.......... Couldn't resist!

matelodave

I agree, it's blindingly obvious but some people don't see it.

I have trouble getting my wife to understand stuff like that and she's got a degree and was a management consultant. She rinses yoghurt pots with the hot tap on full blast using a couple of gallons at a time to get the hot water running and leaving a couple of gallons of hot water sitting in the pipes.

So sometimes it does need pointing out - most people think that a shower is economical but standing in one deluging 10 litres a minute for ten minutes uses 100 litres which is a lot more than a bath uses. A power shower can easily double that. Seven times a week = 700litres added to the washing and toilet flushing can easily take you over 1 cu.m a week.

mcc100

matelodave wrote: »

It's not hard to check which meter you are paying for
Step 1 - check the bill and find the meter serial number
Step 2 - go and open the meter covers to find out which meter has the same serial number.
Step 3 - Makes sure it's the one that's connected to your property by turning everything off and checking that it doesn't rotate.

Sorry, but Step 3 is incorrect. You confirm which meter is connected to your property by turning a tap ON and check which meter is moving.

cifpower

ScarletMarble wrote: »

I live alone in a 2 bedroom flat built in 2009. I have showers instead of baths, run the washer on 5 loads a week and toilet is flushed about 40 times a week.

My DD with Severn Trent is £14.85 pcm.

Now, I have two colleagues that again live on their own in the same area in two bed terraces - built 1979-82 and their monthly DDs are about £8-9 a month.

We are all on meters.

Why is my monthly direct debit almost double? My meter is one of three - my flat, my neighbour in the flat below me and a house that is at 90 degrees to the flats. Its on the pavement and never been told which one belongs to me and if I did know which one it was, I wouldn't be able to read it as chances are, its too deep down and covered in water, as a previous property, i lived in, the meter was at the front and with the help of a small pot, I was able to read the meter after filling several pots of water.

Do you think a call to ST will be a good idea?

I live on my own in a 1 bed flat. I pay ST £15pm and, after a bill was produced covering 3 months' read usage, I am £1 in credit.

You do not say if your friends have overpaid in the past and ST have reduced their DD because they built up a credit.

chickens11

Matelodave...Your post is 100% correct as when my disabled husband lived here with me he use to shower in a plastic wheelchair , the carer use to sit on the bog day dreaming and the water use to run for 15 to 20 mins , thats a power shower .. My bills were £130 per half yearly , but in the past year he has been in a nursing home and my bills have now gone down to £34 per month , .....! ..
.My electricity bill as dived too , plus the gas bill and the sewerage bill.....I have 5 minute shower daily , wash 3 loads a week , and wash the car once probaly a fortnight , so im well pleased with my water bills ....Sheila.

matelodave

I've timed myself in the shower several times this past couple of week. 90secs from turning the water on to turning it off. That includes getting it hot, washing all my bits & hair (I'm not bald so use water to wash & rinse) and having a thorough rinse afterwards. The shower has a 7lpm flow restrictor so I'm using around 10-12 litres.


My wife uses a bit more but only takes 3 minutes = 21 litres.


it's not hard and you can save lots of water & energy