Bills

fifi35

Hi, hope this is the right forum? I am very worried about my bills. I live in a 3-bed semi and have a cat dog and a lodger.
It was recommended that I have a water meter and my estimated monthly bill was £23. After a year its doubled to £50. I'm home all day but my lodger is out at work. There are 2 showers per day, the dishwasher once per day maybe every other day, washing machine 3 or 4 times a week.
I have the heating on from around 8am until around 8pm most days. My gas/electricity is around £80 per month.
Do you think my water usage and gas/electricity is excessive?
I really wish I would not have had the water meter now.

Fifi

jk0

Could you ask to switch back to unmetered billing, if that would be cheaper?

[Deleted User]

I changed from unmetered to metered as in our area we didn't have a choice and my bills dropped from around £30 per month to £14.37.

I live alone and I am careful with usuage I shower daily and don't have a dishwasher I use my washing machine 1-2 times a week .

My gas and electric combined with EDF is £47 per month I have the water on for two hours a day to heat the tank up, and the heating goes on as and when needed, ususlly for an hour in the morning, and maybe two hours in the evening,but as I am out during the day quite a lot although I am retired I lead a very busy life, so I am not at home for a lot of the time

I do have a blanket over my knees if it gets a bit chilly but possibly as I live in the slightly warmer southern part of the country I don't feel or notice the cold quite so much. The curtains get closed late afternoon to contain the heat and I have had my walls foam filled and insulated My roof has 10" of insulation in it and I have double glazed windows My son-in-law is a surveyor and he did a rating formy house and its rated at an 'A' rating as I have done as much as possible to insulate and use energy saving things as I can.

fifi35

Thanks for the replies. I don't think you can switch back once you have made the switch. I will ask though.

Jackio, maybe I should get an assessment done. If it were just me in the house I would only need to heat the living room but my lodger is from Spain so really feels the cold up North. I wonder if it would be cheaper to buy two electric radiators, one for the living room and one for his bedroom, rather than have the heating on constantly?

karcher

In my previous home I chose not to have a water meter fitted as my bills with one would have been higher (live alone).

I think the problem is if you are home all day you tend to feel the cold. I only ever had my heating on for an hour in the morning then a max 4 hours in the evening (if very cold) but was out all day at work.

You could reduce your heating bills by either turning the thermostat down during the day or switching the heating off and just have it come on in the morning and evening when your lodger is home.

JulieM

Your gas/electricity sounds reasonable enough considering it's on all day, but the water sounds excessive. I would have thought nearer £30 per month. Maybe the original £23 for water was on the low side and some arrears are included in the revised figure. Don't forget the little things you can do to save water, don't leave the tap running when cleaning your teeth, only put as much water as you need in the kettle etc.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Gas Elect no, but make sure you are fixed on the best tariff!

Water should be around 55m3 per person a year, so without meter readings, I cannot say. But check for leaks, these normally occur in the cisterns, especially the toilet are notorious for leaks. To check, turn your stop tap C O C K off and leave overnight. Take a meter reading.

If overnight the meter has moved, you probably have a leak to the meter.

In the morning, turn tap back on, if there is an inrush of water, you have a leak!

fifi35

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will give them a try. I am going to just have the heating on in the morning for when my lodger gets up and for a few hours in the evening. I will also turn radiators off in rooms I don't use. My lodger spends most of his time in his bedroom so I'll keep his radiator on, plus living room and bathroom.
Will also look check for a leak. I've also provided him with an electric blanket so hope this helps him.

Spendless

My Grandma had this issue, water meter bill kept going up and up. It did turn out to be a leak in the cistern. I'd suggest getting someone out to have a look into this.

bouicca21

My bills are in line with JackieO's. Even when I'm in all day I don't have the heating set to come on for more than a few hours and if it gets chilly I put on extra layers - but admittedly it is warmer down south. The water company recently came round and installed some water saving devices.

moneyistooshorttomention

My water bill (single person/no pets) is £19 per month and I have one of the two dearest Water Boards in the country - ie Welsh Water.

I believe one can swop back from a water meter during the first year it's installed? Worth looking into the possibility of that.

Fuel - gas and electric are £58 per month together currently and I use however much fuel I decide to (ie my gas central heating is kept on all day basically) and I'll whack on a fire occasionally for a bit of a top-up if I want to.