Thames water bill more than gas & electricity combined!

Digonr

Hi, my water bill has gone up over the past 12 months without any particular extra usage and even over winter without needing water the plants that frequently. It is 50% more than my gas & electricity combined!! Should I investigate for a leak. BTW, i am with thames water.

QrizB

Digonr said:

Hi, my water bill has gone up over the past 12 months without any particular extra usage and even over winter without needing water the plants that frequently. It is 50% more than my gas & electricity combined!! Should I investigate for a leak. BTW, i am with thames water.

Do you have a water meter?

If you do, your bills will tell you how much water you've used during the period and will also work out your average per day. Has that changed?

Digonr

Hi, Thanks for your response. I do not have a water meter installed other than the external mains. Looking at the past bills (graphically)...mid 2022 the average shown according to my bills is about 1350litre per day, rose to 2560 litres per day last year and it says around 3500 litres per day this year. I probably should have realised something is exceptionally wrong...I tried closing the internal mains stop valve located in the garage; however the meter outside my driveway is still running with no water running in the house (all appliances, etc shut down). On turning the internal stop valve and tap (both) on, the red sweep needle on the meter randomly jumps around in no particular direction (i believe it should go clockwise).  My guess is that the meter is faulty or there may be an issue between the meter and internal stop valve. I tried closing the externall stop valve but it did nothing to the flow of water in the house. Thames water said it would take upto 60 days to get someone check the meter.
1) My next bill is due April, should  I continue with my direct debit payment or withhold payment as there is a risk i may not be able to recover via compensation once paid
2) is it worth getting a plumber to check for leaks
3) should I involve ofgem? or any other relevant team?

Many thanks in advance for any guidance/help

Digonr

To confirm that the usage might have gone up only slightly (5-7 extra showers and 2-3 extra laundry washes) but the number of members at home has not changed. Ta

subjecttocontract

From your description it seems you have a leak between the meter and your property.

magpies79

Does it matter how many litres there using if they aren't metered like wouldn't the bill be the same weather they were using 10 litres or 10,000 litres?

subjecttocontract

But there seems to be some confusion as without a meter how does the op know the usage figures ? I suspect they DO have a water meter fitted.

QrizB

subjecttocontract said:

But there seems to be some confusion as without a meter how does the op know the usage figures ? I suspect they DO have a water meter fitted.

Yes, agreed. OP appears to be on a metered suply and to have a large water leak somewhere.