Water smart meter randomly showing extreme high usage

recklessmurmur

Bit of background - I bought my home in Sept 2023. Water meter was read when I arrived and I was told there was a smart meter. I paid monthly DD the same amount as the house I lived in before, however with one less adult I thought it might be slightly less in usage but left as it was. There is just me and my two children (11,13).
In September 2024 I recieved a bill saying I was £600 in debt and my useage was average 900l a day. Also was told my smart meter doesnt work & has never worked so they came out to read the meter manually in Aug 2024 to get this bill. Naturally I thought there was a leak/an error as the bill was so high. Anglian Water came out. Checked everything, no leak, no shared supply, nothing. DD increased disgustingly to cover new 'useage' and the account debt. They say this is 100% my useage and they are happy its coming from me.
I don't have anything fancy like a hot tub, power shower, garden to tend etc. 
3 days of the week no one is here, as my kids are at their dads & I am away. 

My smart meter started working randomly a few weeks ago & it shows random huge spikes. For example, last Thursday between 2pm and 4pm I used 1100 litres apparently. I was working & kids not here!! 

Any advice please, feel at my wits end. 

Keep_pedalling

The only thing I can think of is a crossed meter and you are being charged for someone else’s water. 

MattMattMattUK

recklessmurmur said:

Bit of background - I bought my home in Sept 2023. Water meter was read when I arrived and I was told there was a smart meter. I paid monthly DD the same amount as the house I lived in before, however with one less adult I thought it might be slightly less in usage but left as it was. There is just me and my two children (11,13).
In September 2024 I recieved a bill saying I was £600 in debt and my useage was average 900l a day. Also was told my smart meter doesnt work & has never worked so they came out to read the meter manually in Aug 2024 to get this bill. Naturally I thought there was a leak/an error as the bill was so high. Anglian Water came out. Checked everything, no leak, no shared supply, nothing. DD increased disgustingly to cover new 'useage' and the account debt. They say this is 100% my useage and they are happy its coming from me.
I don't have anything fancy like a hot tub, power shower, garden to tend etc. 
3 days of the week no one is here, as my kids are at their dads & I am away. 

This is probably caused by the meter reads catching up from low estimates. If the smart meter was not smart then they would have used estimates, possibly for the entire period since. The 900L a day may well be distorted by the catch up being compressed into one billing cycle.

recklessmurmur said:

My smart meter started working randomly a few weeks ago & it shows random huge spikes. For example, last Thursday between 2pm and 4pm I used 1100 litres apparently. I was working & kids not here!! 

It is difficult to tell, 1,100 litres is a slightly odd figure as water meters usually report in 1,000 litre increments, although lower amounts do show on the meter itself. They also do not report hour by hour data, but they do upload at different times and usage gets logged.

recklessmurmur said:

Any advice please, feel at my wits end. 

There are a few things to do, first is to check the meter number on the meter is the one on your bill, the next thing is to test if it supplies your home. You can do the latter by first making sure everything is turned off and then seeing if it moves at all, the small sub units on the right should stay still, the next is to keep watching it but have someone turn several taps on and see if it starts moving. If it is not yours then you need to speak to the supplier, if it is then carry on. The next is a leak test, so you need to check the reading before a reasonably significant period of not using any water, several hours at a minimum, 4-12 would be ideal. If it moves then you have a leak (*or potentially a faulty meter, although that is very unlikely in that way), if it it does not move you do not have a leak. If you have a leak you need a plumber in to calculate it, if not then you need to look at your usage. For all of these tests you need to physically check the meter, not rely on the smart data as that only reports periodically and so will not work for these purposes.

*the reason that I say very unlikely is water meters that rise with zero usage are vanishingly rare, but they can over or under report, although that is also rare it is more likely than the former.

Could you also put your usage in this calculator and see what it thinks your litre usage would be?
https://www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-and-water/water-meter-calculator/