Water meter vs unmetered

Mich1298

HELP! ... We are moving into a new build 2 bed house which unfortunately comes with a water meter.
We are pensioners and trying to budget how much we are likely to pay for a water meter with 2 of us having a shower twice a day, so that's 4 showers each day.
The other water usage would be quite moderate. Washing machine 1 quick wash most days, but no dishwasher, garden to water or car washing. 

Please help if you can just to give us a rough idea of what we should expect for the monthly cost - especially if you are using similar amounts of water a day - ie 2 showers per person.
We currently pay £35 per month for unmetered which is affordable, but we are really worried about it being a lot higher than that.
Thankyou in advance 

GingerTim

If you go to https://www.ccwater.org.uk/watermetercalculator/ and fill in the details of your water company, no of showers etc it should give you a rough idea.

I filled it in for the Southern Water Region, added 28 showers and 7 washing machine uses a week and out comes out at approx £441/year, or approx £36/month. (Not including toilet flushes etc, you will have a better idea) But 28 showers a week is a lot, so you have a lot of scope for savings!

Mich1298

Thanks, i will try that.

Devongardener

We pay £18 a month on a water meter, two people. We are however very careful with our use.  The sewage charge is double the cost of cubic metered water per unit so we try to make every drop do double duty - take a couple of buckets into the shower and use that water for flushing the loo, or hand washing woollies etc.   It might sound extreme but every wasted drop is literally money down the drain!  Maybe cut your showers to once a day each, think of the big savings on gas or electric too!

ariarnia

Devongardener said:

We pay £18 a month on a water meter, two people. 

same here two adults and two children on a meter pay about £20 a month (i think the first payment of the year is higher at maybe £25?) but we do a full load every other day/a few times a week on an eco wash which is longer but uses less water and energy. 

Cardew

Mich1298 said:

HELP! ... We are moving into a new build 2 bed house which unfortunately comes with a water meter.
We are pensioners and trying to budget how much we are likely to pay for a water meter with 2 of us having a shower twice a day, so that's 4 showers each day.
The other water usage would be quite moderate. Washing machine 1 quick wash most days, but no dishwasher, garden to water or car washing. 

Please help if you can just to give us a rough idea of what we should expect for the monthly cost - especially if you are using similar amounts of water a day - ie 2 showers per person.
We currently pay £35 per month for unmetered which is affordable, but we are really worried about it being a lot higher than that.
Thankyou in advance 

Welcome to the forum.

You have missed out a very important factor - which is your company for water and sewerage? - usually the same company but sometimes different companies. Water and sewerage charges vary a great deal across the country. 

The average consumption for a couple is around 110 cubic metres(m3) a year but many use far less.

jbuchanangb

Here, two pensioners in the house use 72 cu.m per year, pay £360 to United Utilities. Of this £160 for the water supply, £200 for the drainage, including surface water drainage. But we do not shower as often as you.

matelodave

We are also two pensioners at home all day and use around 75cu.m a year. We pay £365 to Anglian Water with metered water and sewerage.. The combined Standing Charge for both is £125.25 plus a combined cost of £3.25 cu.m for water and sewerage.

If we were not on a water meter then just the standing charge for combined water and sewerage would be £581.35 plus whatever the RV cost as well, which would probably push it up to around £650-£700 so we could double our consumption and still be better off by having a meter.

I can't remember what our RV is, but we instantly reduced our water bill by about 70% when we had the meter fitted twelve years ago) so having a water meter is a no brainer.

We dont shower twice a day as we find once a day is more than sufficient. We have an EcoCamel shower head (pinched from the caravan) and all the taps have flow restrictors. We don't use the lo-flush feature on the toilets as it hardly dilutes it, let alone flushing away the solids. We have an auto garden watering system that's on from around April to September and we wash two cars and a caravan abou half a dozen times a year.

You really need to check the tariff on your new property and compare it with the old, to work out what you might end up paying, especially if you are moving to a different area with a different supplier.

Use Cardew's estimate of 110cu.m as an initial guess but bear in mind, you can probably reduce that without too much effort, especially if you take shorter showers and fewer of them.

TBH the cost of the water for something like 28 showers a week is probably insignificant compared with the cost of heating it, especially if you use electricity - 1000litres will cost around £3.50 whereas you'll need around 40kwh to heat 1000litres, say £5-£6 for gas and £14 for leccy at today's capped prices

jimjames

4 people in our house, bill is £45 a month so you might find it's less than your £35 currently

macman

Why 'unfortunately'? For most people with more bedrooms than people it will invariably be cheaper on metered billing.
Your water needs seem quite moderate, though it's worth pointing out that a dishwasher used once a day uses less water than washing up by hand.
However, since you don't have a choice, it seems a bit pointless asking, if you have already arranged your move? All water authorities can impose a meter upon a change of ownership, if it's not already installed.

sevenhills

matelodave said:

We are also two pensioners at home all day and use around 75cu.m a year. We pay £365 to Anglian Water with metered water and sewerage.. The combined Standing Charge for both is £125.25 plus a combined cost of £3.25 cu.m for water and sewerage.

Use Cardew's estimate of 110cu.m as an initial guess but bear in mind, you can probably reduce that without too much effort, especially if you take shorter showers and fewer of them.

I have just received my bill today. £690 for 183cu with Yorkshire Water. That is for three adults.
High usage compared to other posters, I am hoping it's an over estimate as I don't recall when the meter was last read. £58 per month