water meter or not?

matelodave

Our water & sewerage from Anglian Water costs us about £27 a month on a meter (around 66cu.m) whereas when we moved in six years ago the rateable value cost was about £45 a month. I dunno what it would be now but I reckon at least £60.

We aren't particularly frugal as we've got an auto garden watering system which operates from May through to September, I wash the cars and caravan occaisionally.

We use the washing machine & dishwasher with full loads and don't let too much water run down the sink when washing and rinsing (although my wife hasn't totally got the hang of not rinsing yoghurt pots with the tap on full blast). Flow restrictors on the taps and shower reduce the volume of water and we only spend a few minutes each in the shower.

We are both at home all day so lots of tea & coffee get drunk and consequently the loo probably gets used more than most as well.

Long leisurely power showers can use a surprising amount of water so reducing the time in there and fitting a flow restrictor or eco shower head can make a big difference to your consumption both of water and the energy to heat it.

Get a meter fitted and try it for a year, you can elect to have it disregarded and revert to RV charging if it doesn't work out. Read it weekly for a month or two to get an idea of how much you are using and see if you can reduce your consumption by a few small changes.

Biggles

You can now change back any time within two years, though this may depend on the water company.

ASavvyBuyer

We are on a water meter and pay just £10 a month now. At our old house, the water rates used to be about £75 a month; but when we changed to a water meter it reduced to about £20 a month.

Biggles

Mr.Generous wrote: »

what sort of figure do any of you good people pay with metered use?

Not many replies will help you without being able to compare households (for example, you haven't even said how many people live in your house).

But you could try this calculator and see how the result looks for you: https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/water-calculator

jbuchanangb

Picture tells the story:


What are you waiting for?

matelodave

I produced a graph like that when we got our first water meter some twenty years ago. The savings were even more dramatic than you show in yours as our RV charges were very high.

Even when we moved after around 15 years our water bill never achieved the levels of of our previous RV costs. We got an instant halving of our water/sewerage costs when we moved here six years ago and had the meter fitted. Our costs are still at least 50% lower with a water meter

[Deleted User]

I went from paying approx £340 a year on unmetered (at this year's rates) to approx £185 a year on metered. Been on the meter 3 years now.

Only flush after a poop de doop.

datlex

The best argument I have seen for saving water by using less is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVxBlq9ThuY By using less water, the first fella gets to have an extra 10 mins in bed and sit and enjoy his breakfast. No brainer for me that one.

Mr.Generous

Well we took the plunge, water meter fitted outside in the garden because of stop tap (swear filter !) location.

The DD has gone from £80.08 per month to £23.59 so although its an estimate I will be absolutely delighted if its anywhere near accurate.

It would be like getting free car insurance for myself, Mrs Generous, and free house insurance if we save something like £600.

Next step is to add guttering to the garage and fit a water butt for watering the plants.

It took me a while to get round to this, Ill update when first bills come in from actual readings. Anyone know the actual charge per unit as displayed on the meter? I can't see it on the new DD/ bill form because its not for actual usage yet.

EachPenny

Mr.Generous wrote: »

Anyone know the actual charge per unit as displayed on the meter? I can't see it on the new DD/ bill form because its not for actual usage yet.

The meters usually record cubic metres (M3) (which is a tonne of water!). The actual charge per M3 will be set out in your water companies 'scheme of charges' but sometimes it takes a bit of working out because the charges can depend on your supply pipe size and also on the combination of water/sewerage companies in your area. Some local areas may also have surcharges for things like softening applied at the water works.

Properties in parts of London for example will pay about £1 per M3 for clean water and about 80p per M3 for sewerage - so one 'unit' on the meter will cost about £1.80 in metered charge, but the additional standing charges make up a very large part of the bill when your consumption drops to low levels.

Looking to the future, over time it is likely that charges for non-metered supplies will go up relative to metered supplies as pricing will be used as a tool to encourage metering and therefore reduction in water consumption. And if you live in an area where Thames Water are the sewerage provider, expect your bill to go up significantly to pay for the super sewer :mad: