Water bill double in a house with an extra bathroom & bedroom?

Chris_derby

Hi,

I’m due to move house in a couple of days to next door but one. My solicitor has sent me the water bill for the person who’s currently living there and they are paying a set fixed £47 a month (apparently she is on a meter). I’ve just compared it to my bills and I pay around £23 a month average and I’m also on a meter.

Should my bill be going up this much for a house that has got an extra bathroom and an extra bedroom? The house is detached where mine is currently a semi, she lives on her own (sometimes with her son/girlfriend but only occasional), and we are a couple.

Thanks.

Cardew

If they are on a meter, I doubt if it is a fixed £47 a month. That is probably the amount of their monthly Direct Debit.

The extra bedroom and bathroom will not affect the size of the bill. The current occupant may use a lot more water than you - watering the garden, washing the car, deep baths etc.

As the house is 'next door but one' it is unlikely your sewerage arrangements will be different, unless the house was built in an earlier era.

Chris_derby

Cardew said:

If they are on a meter, I doubt if it is a fixed £47 a month. That is probably the amount of their monthly Direct Debit.

The extra bedroom and bathroom will not affect the size of the bill. The current occupant may use a lot more water than you - watering the garden, washing the car, deep baths etc.

As the house is 'next door but one' it is unlikely your sewerage arrangements will be different, unless the house was built in an earlier era.

That’s what I thought, do they normally charge any extra standard costs before any water usage if the house is bigger? I’m hoping she’s just set up a set direct debit and hasn’t changed it, rather than there being any issues like unseen leaks! 😬

Cardew

Size of house in UK makes no difference to metered water charges; e.g. a single person in a 1 bed flat using , say, 50 cubic metres PA will pay the same as any number of people in a 10 bed mansion who have the same consumption of 50 cubic metres PA.

Unless the two houses have different sewerage arrangements(e.g. one pays for surface water drainage) the sewerage charges will also be the same - for the same water consumption.

Chris_derby

Cardew said:

Size of house in UK makes no difference to metered water charges; e.g. a single person in a 1 bed flat using , say, 50 cubic metres PA will pay the same as any number of people in a 10 bed mansion who have the same consumption of 50 cubic metres PA.

Unless the two houses have different sewerage arrangements(e.g. one pays for surface water drainage) the sewerage charges will also be the same - for the same water consumption.

Great, so in theory our water bill should be exactly the same in the new house if we continue to use it how we did in our current house? Hopefully she has just fixed her direct debit high or she uses a lot of water!

glennevis

Cardew said:

Size of house in UK makes no difference to metered water charges: e.g. a single person in a 1 bed flat using , say, 50 cubic metres PA will pay the same as any number of people in a 10 bed mansion who have the same consumption of 50 cubic metres PA.

For the record in Scotland the council tax band is part of the formula used to calculate the unit rate for metered water.

I asked Scottish Water for a quote when I moved up here and was advised that in properties below band H it will cost more with metered water (I did give them my usage figures). Explains why water meters are not common in houses in Scotland.

freesha

If you use the same amount of water per person, techinally your bill should be more or less identical at the new property.

JJ_Egan

Worth checking for leaks when moving in .

pokora

And send regularly readings to have accurate bills. Don't forget to take pictures from the meter the day you move in.