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Water bill has increased after moving house
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Hi All,
I'm hoping someone can help me!
I moved house in June 2019. In my previous house my water bills were £24 a month. In my new house my bills are £44 a month. I am on a water meter and with United utilities.
My water usage varies from 250-350L a day. I have fixed a dripping tap and an over filling toilet but the usage today has come back at 350L per day.
I have read the meter, left it for the weekend while I was away and read it again when I returned- the reading was exactly the same. Therefore, there are no leaks and no water is being used while I'm not there.
I have tested the meter by measuring 10L in a jug - the meter showed an accurate usage of 10L.
The only differences in my habits from the old house to this house are;
- in this house I have a dishwasher which I use three times a week. The other house had no dishwasher. But a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing so this should only have a positive effect on my bills.
- my new house has a shower. My old house didn't, so I've gone from 5-7 baths a week, to 2 baths and 1 shower per week ( I shower at the gym 5 days a week)
There is only me living in the house.
Is there anything obvious that I'm missing, or anything else that I can check for leaks or faults?
Thanks!
Heather
I'm hoping someone can help me!
I moved house in June 2019. In my previous house my water bills were £24 a month. In my new house my bills are £44 a month. I am on a water meter and with United utilities.
My water usage varies from 250-350L a day. I have fixed a dripping tap and an over filling toilet but the usage today has come back at 350L per day.
I have read the meter, left it for the weekend while I was away and read it again when I returned- the reading was exactly the same. Therefore, there are no leaks and no water is being used while I'm not there.
I have tested the meter by measuring 10L in a jug - the meter showed an accurate usage of 10L.
The only differences in my habits from the old house to this house are;
- in this house I have a dishwasher which I use three times a week. The other house had no dishwasher. But a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing so this should only have a positive effect on my bills.
- my new house has a shower. My old house didn't, so I've gone from 5-7 baths a week, to 2 baths and 1 shower per week ( I shower at the gym 5 days a week)
There is only me living in the house.
Is there anything obvious that I'm missing, or anything else that I can check for leaks or faults?
Thanks!
Heather
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Replies
We're a family of 2 adults and 1 child and usage was around 270L/day before we moved to an unmetered property last summer.
13 ltrs every day for example adds up pretty quickly, a washing up bowl uses 9 litres , only you know how many dishes you use in a day
There are two toilets, the one downstairs is perfect and shuts off immediately, the one upstairs overflows and trickles into the bowl. However, I turned off the water to this toilet 2 weeks ago and am not using it until it can be fixed (hopefully this weekend!) Since then my water usage has increased which I don't understand!
Both toilets have short and long flush options and I only use the short flush. My old house was a standard lever, one flush option toilet.
I use the dishwasher three times a week, once to clean all my hob rings, supports, dish rack and other bits from the kitchen, and twice at the weekend where I will let the dishes from the day build up and run it of an evening. The rest of the week I wash by hand, but in the old house I washed by hand every day. Dishwashers should use less water than hand washing (unless I have a very inefficient dishwasher!).
I did do an experiment where I didn't use the dishwasher for a month, the water usage dropped slightly but not much, maybe I should run this experiment again now that all my leaks have been fixed!