Rateable value or meter? 28 February 2016 at 1:27PM in Water bills 5 replies 1.5K views

sam1970

I am moving house in few weeks and the house I am buying is a 5 bed house and has no water meter. The rateable value for water in that house is over £1200 per year (Severn trent water). We are two adults and 3 children and in our current 4 bed house we have a water meter and the bill comes to around £30 per month roughly. Do you think it is a good idea to ask for a meter in the new house? I feel that even if we double our water use, still it will cost less than £1200 if we get a meter

Cardew

You may not get the option not to have a meter as Severn Trent(ST) can enforce meter fitment on change of occupant.


The average consumption for 5 persons in UK is approx. 250 cubic metres PA.(many say they use far less). On that consumption with ST you would pay £630 pa. You could also have to pay up to an additional £80 pa for Surface Water Drainage if liable.


No contest if your RV based charges would be £1,200pa.

macman

Fit a meter voluntarily (though as Cardew states,you may find that you have no choice in the matter as a new occupier anyway). Then if you are not saving money, simply have it disregarded and revert to RV billing within the first 12 months. You cannot lose.

rtho782

macman wrote: »

Fit a meter voluntarily (though as Cardew states,you may find that you have no choice in the matter as a new occupier anyway). Then if you are not saving money, simply have it disregarded and revert to RV billing within the first 12 months. You cannot lose.

Until you come to sell and the next occupant gets shafted with a meter.

HappyMJ

rtho782 wrote: »

Until you come to sell and the next occupant gets shafted with a meter.

In the case described above it wouldn't matter. The house would need 10 occupants using 50 cubic metres each before RV becomes cheaper than a meter. Generally the more occupants a property has the less water is used per person so even with 10 occupants it's likely the bill would be exactly the same.

matelodave

With a meter you have some degree over your costs - you can use less and pay less. With RV it's the opposite - pay up front and use as much as you like.

It's your choice - I'd be paying well over £500 on RV, only £300 with a meter so there's no contest as far as I'm concerned