Severn Trent installed Water Meter without home owners consent

Cardew

My 2021/22 charges based on Rateable Value with Severn Trent would have been £1,603pa On a meter last year I paid £319.20p.

I had a meter fitted in 1990 so 31+ years = a lot of saving.

That said there are still millions of houses with a very low Rateable Value who use a lot of water - garden etc - and they can save large amounts.

There have been several posts on MSE about large old houses split into flats who retain a single RV based account. i.e. only one water bill for several flats.

jbuchanangb

Look at this chart of my water charges over the period 1983 to 2013. Why wouldn't you want a water meter?

Cardew

jbuchanangb said:

Look at this chart of my water charges over the period 1983 to 2013. Why wouldn't you want a water meter?

We don't know the OP's circumstances.

There are still many householders who would pay more when metered. That was the reason the governments didn't make meters compulsory for existing account holders.

A low Rateable Value and/or high water use can make RVbased charges cheaper - see https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/your-water-bill/metering/

At one stage it was estimated that about 20% of customers would be better off on RV based charges - that is about 4 million households.

wild666

My RV bill was £450 then I changed to a water meter, in the first year they estimated my bill at £192, £16 per month, I received a refund of £75 that year and the bill dropped to £11 per month then this year it's dropped to just £9, £108 per year, next year I expect a slight increase has more water was used by workmen working in the property and a decorator washing his brushes in the shower but maybe only by a pound or so, maybe back up to £11. 

spiro

By them having fitted a meter, it gives you the option to try being billed by meter for a year to see if it is cheaper that RV based bill. If it's not cheaper you can revert to RV within the year.

Heinzbean

Smart Water Meter Works For Me. Paying £5 a month until credit used up.

Easy online billing with easy to understand usage graphs. Bills are confusing though check the billing.

Your total water use

New reading on -----07 July --2021 --------Actual --------45

Previous reading on 24 March 2021 -------Actual ---------35

Total water use--------------------------------------------------10m 3

How much you owe

Period 1: For your water and wastewater on a metered tariff between 25 March 2021 and 31 March 2021 (7 days)

Water

Water used----0.6666 m³ at 138.18p per m³---- = £0.92

Fixed charge---------------------------------------- ---- + £0.37

Total---------------------------------------------------------- £1.29

Wastewater

Used water disposal---0.6666m³ at 89.63p per m³ = £0.60

Fixed charge------------------------------------------- ---- + £1.22

Total------------------------------------------------------- ------ £1.82

Period 2: For your water and wastewater on a metered tariff between 01 April

2021 and 07 July 2021 (98 days)

Water

Water used----9.3334 m³ at 148.28p per m³----------= £13.84

Fixed charge--------------------------------------------------+ £5.46

Total--------------------------------------------------------- -----£19.30

Wastewater

Used water disposal---9.3334m³ at 90.51p per m³-----= £8.45

Fixed charge-------------------------------------------------+--- £17.50

Total------------------------------------------------------------ -----£25.95

Total new charges-------------------------------------------------£48.36

Account summary

Amount in credit at last bill (dated 26 March 2021)------ -£161.35

Payments made since last bill – thank you-------------------£15.00

Total new charges --------------------------------------------------£48.36

Account balance (in credit)---------------------------------------£127.99

Still a con though the Water stuff falls from the sky and they have the cheek to sell it to us.

They will charge us for the air we breath next.

Cardew

Heinzbean said:

Still a con though the Water stuff falls from the sky and they have the cheek to sell it to us.

They will charge us for the air we breath next.

The wind and sun they use to generate electricity is also free - there must be a catch somewhere. I blame Boris!!

Afourteen

We moved from a house with RV water charges to a property with an enforced water meter. Both houses are property band B. We 'watch' every drop of water we use, never use a hose pipe. Old house, water rates are £240 this year (a relative moved in when we moved out); new house, the quarterly bill averages £70 per quarter since we moved in around 20 years ago. I've questioned the costs several times, had the meter changed twice (including the base once after they water company cracked the base when changing the meter). Washing machine is used twice a week. We never have a bath only a shower. We every thing we know to make sure we less water without holding water in the bath to flush the toilet and still can't get the bill less than the water rates on the old house.  
I also said in another message stream that I think water meters should be banned on health grounds. 

QrizB

Afourteen said:

We moved from a house with RV water charges to a property with an enforced water meter. Both houses are property band B. We 'watch' every drop of water we use, never use a hose pipe. Old house, water rates are £240 this year (a relative moved in when we moved out); new house, the quarterly bill averages £70 per quarter since we moved in around 20 years ago.

How much water are you using, how many cubic metres per quarter or year?

Rodders53

Severn Trent Water is cheap compared to where I live.

https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-account/help-when-you-need-it/our-charges-and-services/

Even so the RV of the old dwelling must be very low to have a total bill of £240.

Your claimed very low use is £280 a year, £275 is clean water and waste water (£5 is standing charge)
Assuming it's a high £2.75 per cu m (water and waste total) to make the sums easy that's 100 cu m.
On average people use 54 cu m each... So you're roughly average - especially if your cu m charges are lower than I've estimated.

Here, RV Water and Sewerage comes in at £600 this coming year for standing charges alone!
https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/account-and-bill/tariffs-and-charges/standard-rates/

I'm paying almost as much as you on a metered use of 48 cu m per annum (£21 per month = £ 252 pa).  We harvest rainwater for flushing loos, watering garden (rarely) and washing the car.  Otherwise we don't restrict our water use (except for conserving the rainwater).

I wish my water was as cheap.