Huge Thames water bill rises 2025/2026 50% + for some

dunstonh

Saf321 said:

Mine is going up from £75 to £150 a month from June due to TW 'estimating how much they think we'll use' we have a meter which I regret getting. The prices they are charging is nothing short of outrageous. 

Why are you regretting getting a meter?      Your cost isn't going up from £75 to £150pm.   Your budget plan is going up and its based on estimates.    If those estimates are too much, you can get back the excess.    In the meantime, you can make manual readings to give TW and they will use those over a period and change the budget plan to get closer to your actual use.

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

bbgardeners said:

If we are on a meter I risk becoming a water tyrant and complaining when anyone flushes the loo 

I am not sure you can blame Thames Water for that one though...

bbgardeners said:

it my last vision of freedom not having a water meter,

I am not really sure there is freedom in it.

bbgardeners said:

but a 59% increase is crazy.

Rateable customers tend to waste water, so I can see why they want to push people to metered usage. 

bbgardeners said:

I don't think the calculators are factoring in the new prices? Hard to get a comparison

I am not sure that any will yet, but you only need to use them to estimate your usage and then you can run the other numbers yourself. The link below seems to overestimate my usage by around 23% based on number of showers, flushes, dishwasher uses etc. Once you have your cubic meter figure you can then work out what it would cost on the new unit rates and what you would pay on rateable charges. 

https://www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-and-water/water-meter-calculator/

Rubbish - we aren't metered and wouldn't use any extra if we were.

When in the Thames region, it was the worst quality I've seen and we used to say it was from the dog pond at Hamstead Heath. 

MattMattMattUK

[Deleted User] said:

MattMattMattUK said:

bbgardeners said:

If we are on a meter I risk becoming a water tyrant and complaining when anyone flushes the loo 

I am not sure you can blame Thames Water for that one though...

bbgardeners said:

it my last vision of freedom not having a water meter,

I am not really sure there is freedom in it.

bbgardeners said:

but a 59% increase is crazy.

Rateable customers tend to waste water, so I can see why they want to push people to metered usage. 

bbgardeners said:

I don't think the calculators are factoring in the new prices? Hard to get a comparison

I am not sure that any will yet, but you only need to use them to estimate your usage and then you can run the other numbers yourself. The link below seems to overestimate my usage by around 23% based on number of showers, flushes, dishwasher uses etc. Once you have your cubic meter figure you can then work out what it would cost on the new unit rates and what you would pay on rateable charges. 

https://www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-and-water/water-meter-calculator/

Rubbish - we aren't metered and wouldn't use any extra if we were.

You say "Rubbish", Ofwat and CCW say... you are wrong, unmetered users use considerably more than metered users.

[Deleted User] said:

When in the Thames region, it was the worst quality I've seen and we used to say it was from the dog pond at Hamstead Heath. 

Ok...

elletee71

Hi

I live in alone (well with my 2 cats) in a 2 bed flat.  My water is metered, and according to the bill I've just received, I used 1% less in the last measured period.   But my bill has increased by 67% ...  I spoke to someone on WhatsApp and all they could say is that metered customers prices were increasing by 40%  ... which on it's own is gobsmacking, but what about the extra 27% when they tell me I'm using less.

It's not a huge amount (I'll now pay £28 a month), it's more about the feeling of being ripped off somewhere.

Any one make sense of this?

Thanks!
L

mmmmikey

elletee71 said:

Hi

I live in alone (well with my 2 cats) in a 2 bed flat.  My water is metered, and according to the bill I've just received, I used 1% less in the last measured period.   But my bill has increased by 67% ...  I spoke to someone on WhatsApp and all they could say is that metered customers prices were increasing by 40%  ... which on it's own is gobsmacking, but what about the extra 27% when they tell me I'm using less.

It's not a huge amount (I'll now pay £28 a month), it's more about the feeling of being ripped off somewhere.

Any one make sense of this?

Thanks!
L

Hi L - when you say your bill has gone up by 67%, presumably you mean your monthly direct debit payment? If that is the case, then possibly (probably?) what's happened is that you didn't pay enough last year. The key thing here is that the direct debit is an estimate and it sounds like they may have underestimated what you used last year. If this is the case, you'll be hit with three increases this year:

Firstly, even without any price increase they would increase their estimate of usage (having set it too low last year) so you'd end up paying more.

Secondly, on top of that there's the general big increase that everyone is paying.

Thirdly, you'll be paying off any shortfall from last year.

If you look at your latest bill, which you probably get every 6 months or yearly, does it show a balance that you owe them? If it does, then that may well explain it.

Hope this makes sense and helps? Mike

Patr100

Yes, triple whammy it seems, I submitted a meter reading last week since hadn't had one since December last year and now find my monthly DD will be going up from £13 to £30!
I'm a very frugal user single person household who recycles bathroom/shower  water to  flush the loo and other measures. 
Can't dispute the costs/figures but actual usage hasn't changed that greatly from previous years so 130% increase in DD is  still a shock.

jimjames

Saf321 said:

Mine is going up from £75 to £150 a month from June due to TW 'estimating how much they think we'll use' we have a meter which I regret getting. The prices they are charging is nothing short of outrageous. 

If you don't like paying that then switch to paying on bill.  Give monthly readings and you'll be in control of what you are being charged and not paying for estimated use. You've also got the choice to use less water if you think the prices are too high. You could always buy more bottled water which might give an indication it's not quite so expensive after all.