Should I switch to a water meter?

Peterxxxxxx

I live in a rented flat. The water rate I pay is based on the banding of the property. I live in London. This means that I am in the Thames Water catchment area.  I’m considering switching to using a water meter. The belief is that this will reduce the amount I pay for water.

Would using a meter reduce that amount of money I pay for water?
Are there any other factors I need to take into consideration?

Your feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you

Robin9

Does TW have an online calculator ?     I think all the water boards have a try it for a year offer.

macman

You have told us nothing about the property or it's occupancy. How many bedrooms, how many occupants? The rough rule is that, if there are more bedrooms than occupants, then a meter will be cheaper.
Water rates have nothing to do with the Council Tax banding, they are based on the rateable value of the property.
Many flats are physically not able to have meters installed, but if so you can request assessed billing instead, which will always be cheaper than RV billing. But you must first request a meter.
TW is now an area of water stress, so they can fit a meter anyway without customer permission.

baser999

TW installing meters in our street a few years ago. I asked about ours and was told it wasn’t possible to fit one as we were on a shared stopcock with neighbour. To provide us with a meter would mean digging up road etc etc and cost us a fortune. We declined. They now charge us by reference to rateable value 

victor2

Two retirees in a 4 bed house and we don't have a water meter. The forecast is that we could save around 30% by getting a meter. Annual cost is now approaching £1000 and I might have to consider a meter.
Have resisted the temptation so far on the grounds that we like to maintain a nice garden and when our grandchildren visit (weekly) in the summer they love to get the paddling pool out and generally have fun with water. Those and a few other considerations mean I've been happy to pay a fixed amount and not worry about how much water we've used. If there's a water shortage or hosepipe ban, we do of course comply and do what else we can to reduce usage without denying ourselves too much.

The savings we should make by having a meter would probably pay for a rainwater catchment system, which in turn would reduce the water used on the garden, so maybe it is time to change. Grandchildren are growing up too!

freesha

victor2 said:

Two retirees in a 4 bed house and we don't have a water meter. The forecast is that we could save around 30% by getting a meter. Annual cost is now approaching £1000 and I might have to consider a meter.
Have resisted the temptation so far on the grounds that we like to maintain a nice garden and when our grandchildren visit (weekly) in the summer they love to get the paddling pool out and generally have fun with water. Those and a few other considerations mean I've been happy to pay a fixed amount and not worry about how much water we've used. If there's a water shortage or hosepipe ban, we do of course comply and do what else we can to reduce usage without denying ourselves too much.

The savings we should make by having a meter would probably pay for a rainwater catchment system, which in turn would reduce the water used on the garden, so maybe it is time to change. Grandchildren are growing up too!

Do you fill the pool with a hose? If so, you should already be on a water meter.

victor2

freesha said:

victor2 said:

Two retirees in a 4 bed house and we don't have a water meter. The forecast is that we could save around 30% by getting a meter. Annual cost is now approaching £1000 and I might have to consider a meter.
Have resisted the temptation so far on the grounds that we like to maintain a nice garden and when our grandchildren visit (weekly) in the summer they love to get the paddling pool out and generally have fun with water. Those and a few other considerations mean I've been happy to pay a fixed amount and not worry about how much water we've used. If there's a water shortage or hosepipe ban, we do of course comply and do what else we can to reduce usage without denying ourselves too much.

The savings we should make by having a meter would probably pay for a rainwater catchment system, which in turn would reduce the water used on the garden, so maybe it is time to change. Grandchildren are growing up too!

Do you fill the pool with a hose? If so, you should already be on a water meter.

The paddling pool holds significantly less than 10,000 litres, which is the threshold my water supplier uses for ponds, pools etc. to require a meter.

freesha

victor2 said:

freesha said:

victor2 said:

Two retirees in a 4 bed house and we don't have a water meter. The forecast is that we could save around 30% by getting a meter. Annual cost is now approaching £1000 and I might have to consider a meter.
Have resisted the temptation so far on the grounds that we like to maintain a nice garden and when our grandchildren visit (weekly) in the summer they love to get the paddling pool out and generally have fun with water. Those and a few other considerations mean I've been happy to pay a fixed amount and not worry about how much water we've used. If there's a water shortage or hosepipe ban, we do of course comply and do what else we can to reduce usage without denying ourselves too much.

The savings we should make by having a meter would probably pay for a rainwater catchment system, which in turn would reduce the water used on the garden, so maybe it is time to change. Grandchildren are growing up too!

Do you fill the pool with a hose? If so, you should already be on a water meter.

The paddling pool holds significantly less than 10,000 litres, which is the threshold my water supplier uses for ponds, pools etc. to require a meter.

No, it's the hose bit that means you need a meter.

victor2

freesha said:

victor2 said:

freesha said:

victor2 said:

Two retirees in a 4 bed house and we don't have a water meter. The forecast is that we could save around 30% by getting a meter. Annual cost is now approaching £1000 and I might have to consider a meter.
Have resisted the temptation so far on the grounds that we like to maintain a nice garden and when our grandchildren visit (weekly) in the summer they love to get the paddling pool out and generally have fun with water. Those and a few other considerations mean I've been happy to pay a fixed amount and not worry about how much water we've used. If there's a water shortage or hosepipe ban, we do of course comply and do what else we can to reduce usage without denying ourselves too much.

The savings we should make by having a meter would probably pay for a rainwater catchment system, which in turn would reduce the water used on the garden, so maybe it is time to change. Grandchildren are growing up too!

Do you fill the pool with a hose? If so, you should already be on a water meter.

The paddling pool holds significantly less than 10,000 litres, which is the threshold my water supplier uses for ponds, pools etc. to require a meter.

No, it's the hose bit that means you need a meter.

This is what my supplier states:

If you use a handheld hosepipe without a sprinkler you do not need to be metered. However, devices like a perforated hose are classified as sprinkling devices and your supply will have to be metered if you use one.

Cardew

Peterxxxxxx said:

I live in a rented flat. The water rate I pay is based on the banding of the property. 

Just a point. Unmetered water charges are not based on the 'banding' i.e. Council Tax banding.

Unmetered water charges are based on the now defunct Rateable Value(RV) of a property.(or an assessed charge) This was the method of collecting local taxes prior to April 1990. There is no correlation between RV and Council Tax banding.

It doesn't change the points made in the well rehearsed debate above.

macman

baser999 said:

TW installing meters in our street a few years ago. I asked about ours and was told it wasn’t possible to fit one as we were on a shared stopcock with neighbour. To provide us with a meter would mean digging up road etc etc and cost us a fortune. We declined. They now charge us by reference to rateable value 

Why don't you request to go on to assessed bIlling? This is always cheaper than RV billing.