Am I paying too much?

nursebear83

Hello everyone, I was speaking to a friend recently about water charges and now I'm not sure if I am paying too much. I am with Anglian water and pay for water and sewage charges together and my last bill from July 2015 - March 2016 was £383.91 so I am paying £63.73 a month. Does that seem high? It is more than I was paying at my last property.

Thanks in advance

Jen

Cardew

Do you have a meter? If so how many people in property?


If no meter, what is your Rateable value(RV) it can be found on your bill.

JJ_Egan

Sounds like rateable value charges .
That OP is based upon the property not actual usage .Water meter may well be a lot cheaper and you have a year to try .

nursebear83

no meter, there are 4 of us, two adults and two children. RV is showing as 159 x 13.75p and standing charge of £224.26 for water and 159 x 14.25p and standing charge £259.50.

JJ_Egan

2 adults and 2 children then metered could be more expensive .
Two basic payment types for water are one the old RV method that is basically based upon the rateable value of the property a bit like council tax bands . Different houses are in different bands .Or the metered usage payment type .
Both dependant upon individual water company charges .

JamieKent

Sounds like it to me. I'm on a meter and currently pay a combined £40 per month.

I wish there was an easier way to monitor usage, a bit like energy smart meters!

JJ_Egan

My sd 3 bedroom on RV is now about £600 PA .Moved to a water meter single occupant and water careful metered bill is about £250 PA .

matelodave

I,m with AW and our rateable value bills were around £550 a year six years ago. We've had a meter for nearly six years and it's now about £300 a year.


As said, you can ask for a meter to be fitted and if it doesn't work out cheaper you can go back to RV billing within 12 months.
If you do opt for a meter then it's a good idea to monitor it youself regularly (at least every month) so you can gauge how much you are using and when.


Implementing a few water saving measures and teaching the kids not to waste it will go a long way to reducing your bills.

Cardew

On a rateable value of £159 your annual bill will be £528.28.


With 4 people in the house the average annual UK consumption would be approx. 220 cubic metres(m3); although many can use far less.


However with a consumption of 220m3 your annual charge would be £783. So you would need to use far less than the UK average to match your charges based on RV


You are being charged for Surface Water Drainage(SWD) if your surface water(from gutters etc) doesn't enter the drains, you can claim relief of £35pa from that charge. Look up SWD on MSE.

macman

Get a meter and revert within 12m if not cheaper: it's a no-brainer.