My water meter reading seems very high...what to do?

katepower

I moved into a new property 3 months ago - a Victorian terrace. I had a water meter installed on 7 November. Although I own the house I am rarely there and spend 2/3 nights a week there, and I work during the day. The water company estimated my bills to be around £15 p/m. I'd say I take around 2 showers a week there, 2 loads of washing, no dishwasher.

I've had my estimated Meter reading through today as being '18' (as opposed to 0 when it was installed, and the company said they would need to put my bills up to 25pm. I've gone to check the meter, to enter my actual reading, and the meter says it is '30'.

I don't believe I can have used much water at all as I'm rarely there yet it looks as though my bills are going to have to be increased from£25 a month. I can't work out why it would be so expensive.

The only thing I have noticed is that some of my taps drip. The wall under the sink where the meter was fitted is also black and looks water damaged, although my partner has felt it and stated it is dry and we can't seem to see a leak. Can anyone think why my reading would be so high? Thank you

Cardew

Are you reading the black digits and not the red digits?
Taps dripping can use a lot of water, however the main culprit is a leaking cistern - these can leak silently back into the toilet bowl.

A leak in the house from pipes is not likely, 1 digit on the meter is 1,000litres - a lot of water not to notice.

However you can easily check for leaks by reading the meter accurately using the red digits, and note again when you are home from work - it shouldn't have moved.

matelodave

Have a look at the video, it shows you how to read the water meter. https://www.thameswater.co.uk/my-account/water-meters/how-can-i-read-my-meter

to check whether you've got a leak, turn off everything at make sure that the central cog does not rotate at all. If it does then shut off the house stopcock to see if that stops it.
If it does, then you've got something leaking in the house.
If it doesn't then you've got a leak between your stopcock and the water meter.

As Cardew says a dripping tap can use more than you think it does and a toilet cistern that's letting by can use even more.

Try reading the meter daily for a week or so to see how much you are using and when.

A reasonable estimate is between 1 -2 cu.m a week for two of you.

Dont forget that a decent shower can use 10-15 litres a minute so standing in there for 10 minutes can get through 100-150 litres.

Take shorter showers and consider fitting a flow restictor or eco shower head - many water companies will supply a restrictor for free.

Limiting your flow to around 6lpm and reducing your showering time to 5 minutes will significantly reduce your water consumption and save you energy as well.

D_M_E

If you cannot find any leaks then either the dripping taps are costing you a fortune in wasted water, or the meter has been fitted to the wrong supply and could be measuring someone else's use - the fact that it's been fitted in your property does not always mean it's been put in your supply line.

For less than £2 you can get enough tap washers to fit a new one to practically every tap in the premises.

As an example, when we moved in our first meter-based water bill - the water company read the meter - showed we had used over 100 cubic meters in 6 weeks and they wanted a lot of money. We eventually found a small leak dripping away and once that was fixed our useage shot down to about a cubic meter every 10 days. Fixing that leak saved a lot of money.

As has also been said, you only use the black numbers for the reading and can ignore the red ones.

Norman_Castle

If you turn your stop tap off do your neighbours loose their supply?

[Deleted User]

Don't forget you are also charged for the waste water being taken away.
IE toilet flushes, washing up water being poured down sink, washing machine water too.
My water useage is less than the sewerage charges.