Thames Water bill for 1 person flat

ts21

My landlord has just moved to us being billed direct by Thames Water for water. I've had my first bill which is £430 and this seems to me quite high for a 1 bed flat and me on my own? I just wanted to get a rough idea of what others pay to see if it's worth me asking for a water meter.

JGB1955

Being in a flat might make it difficult to fit a water meter - but definitely worth asking.  We pay less than £30 per month for 2 of us in a 4 bed house in the Severn Trent area.

ts21

JGB1955 said:

Being in a flat might make it difficult to fit a water meter - but definitely worth asking.  We pay less than £30 per month for 2 of us in a 4 bed house in the Severn Trent area.

I think if they can't fit one they assess you on household size, and that would definitely be cheaper than my current bill.

Cardew

Almost certainly you will pay less on a meter with Thames water.

If they cannot fit a meter, as is often the case with flats, you will be offered an assessed charge for a single person.

Details here: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/help/billing-and-account/understand-your-bill/charges-2021/charges-scheme-2021-22.pdf

However you must apply for a meter before being offered an assessed charge(assuming a meter cannot be fitted)

QrizB

We're metered and our bill for the four of us in a 3-bed semi is £450, not all that different to what you're paying on your own in your flat.

Londoner_1

That is well high, we have 5.5 people  in my house, total bill metered bill came to £432, but then we save as much as we can. Your bill will be much lower with a meter.

cattie

Contact Thames water & apply to go on their assessed charge rate if they are unable to fit a water meter. From memory I paid around £300+ for a 2 bed, 1 occupant flat once I'd been put on the assessed water charge. 

Added to that I have to say that even though I'd applied 2 or 3 times for a water meter & told it wasn't possible to fit one, about a year or so ago I answered my door to a Thames Water installer who was asking residents if they would like to have a water meter. When I told him I'd been told it was impossible, he came to look at my pipe work & said it would be possible to be metered by having a meter in the kitchen & plus another one in the bathroom. He did the job there & then, going as far as to pull out my integrated washing machine, as behind that was the only place suitable in the kitchen. (He admitted that very few installers would be willing to do this & probably the reason for being turned down previously!). Anyway, my bills are more in the region of £200+ now I'm metered

wild666

I only pay £9 per month for water a massive drop from £44 per month two years ago. I had my meter fitted just before the stopcock and it took around an hour to have it fitted.
YW said my bills would be around £200 per year but I've nearly halved that by not filling pans with water when cooking and not spending as long in the shower plus boiling a kettle for hot water rather than use the hot water tap, it might mean I use more electric but not that much more.