United Utilities - number of people in property

Ant555

Like many, im looking at getting a water meter but I logged on to United Utilities to check various things.

My bill is going up to just over £1200 per year for a 3 bed house, I know its going up but this seems a lot.

On the UU web site there is a section that says Update Your Details and I noticed that it was pre-filled with my post code and it says "number of people at property = 7"
Ive now changed that to 2 but does anyone know if this number in an unmetered house will have affected my bills over the years if its been set at 7 for whatever reason?
Or, is it just rateable value etc that dictates the price.

Thanks

MattMattMattUK

Ant555 said:

Like many, im looking at getting a water meter but I logged on to United Utilities to check various things.

My bill is going up to just over £1200 per year for a 3 bed house, I know its going up but this seems a lot.

On the UU web site there is a section that says Update Your Details and I noticed that it was pre-filled with my post code and it says "number of people at property = 7"
Ive now changed that to 2 but does anyone know if this number in an unmetered house will have affected my bills over the years if its been set at 7 for whatever reason?
Or, is it just rateable value etc that dictates the price.

Thanks

It is just the rateable value which impacts normal unmetered. There is assessed which us based on thr number of people, but that only happens if you ask for a meter and the supplier is unable to fit one, you can then ask for an assessed bill which is cheaper than rateable and bases on the number of people living in the property. 

Brie

£1200 for 7 people!!  Well we pay £33 a month for 2.  And we've got a garden that gets watered in the summer and a hot tub.  

So do you actually have 7 people in the house or 2?  Can they change you to a meter?  I believe that you have the option to ask for this but then get it switched back if you don't actually save as a result.

DullGreyGuy

Ant555 said:

Like many, im looking at getting a water meter but I logged on to United Utilities to check various things.

My bill is going up to just over £1200 per year for a 3 bed house, I know its going up but this seems a lot.

On the UU web site there is a section that says Update Your Details and I noticed that it was pre-filled with my post code and it says "number of people at property = 7"
Ive now changed that to 2 but does anyone know if this number in an unmetered house will have affected my bills over the years if its been set at 7 for whatever reason?
Or, is it just rateable value etc that dictates the price.

Just ratable value.

Presumably they want the number of occupants so they can market to you how much you'd typically save by switching to a meter. 

Ant555

Brie said:

£1200 for 7 people!!  Well we pay £33 a month for 2.  And we've got a garden that gets watered in the summer and a hot tub.  

So do you actually have 7 people in the house or 2?  Can they change you to a meter?  I believe that you have the option to ask for this but then get it switched back if you don't actually save as a result.

Its never been more than 4 so I have no idea where 7 has come from on the account.

Currently its 3.

Yes, im getting a water meter pronto - I was previously reluctant to change as I like to wash cars frequently (never water the lawn though) had 2 late teens that showered a lot, I do the path front and back each year and I now realise that didnt really add-up at all - my fault.

Thanks to all -  im applying for a meter but was wondering if I had been overpaying on my previous years.

MattMattMattUK

Ant555 said:

Brie said:

£1200 for 7 people!!  Well we pay £33 a month for 2.  And we've got a garden that gets watered in the summer and a hot tub.  

So do you actually have 7 people in the house or 2?  Can they change you to a meter?  I believe that you have the option to ask for this but then get it switched back if you don't actually save as a result.

Its never been more than 4 so I have no idea where 7 has come from on the account.

Currently its 3.

Yes, im getting a water meter pronto - I was previously reluctant to change as I like to wash cars frequently (never water the lawn though) had 2 late teens that showered a lot, I do the path front and back each year and I now realise that didnt really add-up at all - my fault.

You can estimate what your costs would be on a metered connection using the link below. It tends to overestimate by about 15-20%, but most people going from unmetered tend to find a near 50% reduction in their bills.
https://www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-and-water/water-meter-calculator/

Ant555 said:

Thanks to all -  im applying for a meter but was wondering if I had been overpaying on my previous years.

You had been overpaying in the sense that a meter would have been a lot cheaper, but not in the actuality of being incorrectly billed.