to have a water meter, yes or no?

SadieO

housebuyer143 said:

You can go back to unmetered within 6 months I believe if it doesn't work out, so give it a try? 
I don't like meters because I don't want to be thinking how every time I get a drink, turn on the sprinkler etc I am spending money. I probably pay more on unmetered but psychologically I am happier using what I want.

When we got ours we were told we could change back after 2 years if it ended up costing us more. That's with Yorkshire Water. 

Without, our bill was £75 per month. With, it's £19!! I don't particuarly worry about how much I am using, and I am certainly not restricing myself from getting a glass of water whenever I want one! Given that I would presumably have to make a concerted effort to quadruple my use in order for my metered payment to exceed the unmetered one, even if I have heavy usage for some reason (eg I felt like having baths instead of showers for a month!) I still don't think I'd come anywhere near that! 

I totally get the psychological benefit of feeling like you are unrestricted. If our metered price was close to the unmetered one I would probably go with the unmetered one to have the certainty of a fixed price and not be worrying about having an extra bath or something! However, with the difference between my metered and unmetered costs being substantial, I'd be furious to be paying £75 per month regardless of how much - or little - I used, knowing now as I do that (even without deliberately trying to keep it down, and using whatever I need) I actually only use £19 worth! 

NeverTooLate

There's 2 of us in our house, showers every day, bath couple of times a week, dishwasher on most days and we have a watering irrigation system on in the summer every day - £25 a month on a meter.

It does make you think about dripping taps, but other than that we're not particularly careful.

Annemos

I do love my water meter. I check the daily usage every month. I can tell if there is leak, for example from the toilet. 

(It is amazing how much loss of water, one of those push button loo leaks causes!)

Also I had a major water main burst, before I had the Smart meter. I had never been told, to frequently check if the dial is moving when it should not be. There was no sign of any water loss in the house or around it, but 3 times annual usage had been used. It only came to light when the Water Company came and did the annual reading. Such a water leak can be a Subsidence risk on sandy type soils. 

With a Smart Meter I would definitely have noticed this much earlier. 

trinidadone

badmemory said:

Do Thames Water allow you to go back, I didn't think they did.

The brochure says I can try it out for 12 months

trinidadone

LightFlare said:

We pay £25 a month with a water meter for 2 adults in a 4 bed house. 

2 showers a day, dishwasher used daily, toilet flushes, washing machine every other day and the occasional watering of the plants etc in the garden.

OP how much are you paying now and what do you use water for on a daily basis ? That may help with advice - but I would say swap unless you are filling a swimming pool monthly, running a car wash business at the weekend and/or watering several acres of garden

I am paying 40 quid a month. one shower per day, two loads of washing a week, washing up, thats it

twopenny

Try it out - but does it say you can change back?
Check.
I went from £70 a month to £13. 
Mind I do catch the run off of cold water before the hot comes through and use it to water plants. It's 3 litres worth because the pipes run into the loft and back down in a bungalow.

Albermarle

trinidadone said:

LightFlare said:

We pay £25 a month with a water meter for 2 adults in a 4 bed house. 

2 showers a day, dishwasher used daily, toilet flushes, washing machine every other day and the occasional watering of the plants etc in the garden.

OP how much are you paying now and what do you use water for on a daily basis ? That may help with advice - but I would say swap unless you are filling a swimming pool monthly, running a car wash business at the weekend and/or watering several acres of garden

I am paying 40 quid a month. one shower per day, two loads of washing a week, washing up, thats it

You mentioned a figure in your OP of saving £200 a month . I think that is probably an underestimate, so you need to changeover to a meter asap.

MossyJ

trinidadone said:

LightFlare said:

We pay £25 a month with a water meter for 2 adults in a 4 bed house. 

2 showers a day, dishwasher used daily, toilet flushes, washing machine every other day and the occasional watering of the plants etc in the garden.

OP how much are you paying now and what do you use water for on a daily basis ? That may help with advice - but I would say swap unless you are filling a swimming pool monthly, running a car wash business at the weekend and/or watering several acres of garden

I am paying 40 quid a month. one shower per day, two loads of washing a week, washing up, thats it

You will likely save a decent chunk. 
2 people and 1 cat over here, our bills went down 40-50% when we went to a meter.

pieroabcd

A meter is just a meter. It doesn't make you save anything at all.
On a flat rate probably it's another story.

If you have an analog meter you can do like me: send the reading the last day of every mont, that is what the smart meter would do.

With gas and electricity I only had increases since I switched to smart meters, so I won't accept them ever again.

giraffe69

Yes it does, in the case of water, because you pay based on rateable value if not. Most individual or couples without children, for example, will save money with a water meter or assessed charge if they can't have one.
No, smart electricity/gas meters don't send readings on the last day of every month, far more often. Stick to your existing meter if you prefer(at least whilst it is possible) but do make some attempt to get your facts right!