Do water companies advise customers to be on meter or not

jvjack

First time visit to the water bills forum. Have read/skimmed last 5 pages. What is striking is that time and time again the lots of non meter posters who to me a metered user seem to have bills 5 times higher than mine (am low user though} are advised to go metered. 
The sticky page at top goes back years so just a couple of questions.

Do the water companies send out bills to non metered customers telling them that they could save by having a meter or at least giving them a comparison.? And of course the other way around. I mean ,  say the water company see that someone could half their water bill by going either way , do they do that? Do they do that like gas and electricity bills say you could save by switching tariff.

Do unmetered properties have meters to see what is being used , or are they in the street outside?
Do unmetered bills show haw much water has been used?
Just seems after reading a few posts that it is not as simple as knowing that the petrol at the garage down the road is a bit cheaper.

Lorian

Unmetered means unmetered. No meter in the house. No meter in the road 

QrizB

jvjack said:

Do the water companies send out bills to non metered customers telling them that they could save by having a meter or at least giving them a comparison.?

Yes, water companies do promote water meters to unmetered customers.

jvjack said:

And of course the other way around. I mean ,  say the water company see that someone could half their water bill by going either way , do they do that?

No. Government policy (ptromulgated via OFWAT) is that every property should be metered.

jvjack said:

Do unmetered properties have meters to see what is being used , or are they in the street outside?
Do unmetered bills show haw much water has ben used?

Generally, unmetered properties don't have meters. So no, the householders don't know how much they use.

jvjack said:

Just seems after reading a few posts that it is not as simple as knowing that the petrol at the garage down the road is a bit cheaper.

Almost all households save money with a water meter. Those that don't are a combination of eg:

• Properties that have been significantly enlarged since rateable values were last assessed, and who haven't told the water co.
• Properties with much larger thn average water use due to eg. large sprinkler systems, hot tubs, swimming pools.
• Properties where the residents have medical conditions that require much more frequent bathing / laundry.

p00hsticks

Lorian said:

Unmetered means unmetered. No meter in the house. No meter in the road 

there may possibly be a meter in the road or pavement outside - some water companies (e.g Thames Water and , from personal experience, Severn Trent) are proactively fitting meters outside properties to enable them to pinpoint leaks more easily and it's more efficient to dig up whole roads at a time rather than fit meters piecemeal as requested. But even if there is one.they won't switch the user over to metered billing unless the person specifically requests it.  

jvjack

Thank you, I somehow thought that there was a water meter in the street that recorded what any house used and that the water company could tell the house owner that they could have lower bills by the paying what you use route. 
I didn't see though in any of the posts that meters had been promoted to anyone. Just seems odd that people would ignore a simple option to have a water meter that could save them lots. I suppose that since their is no meter in the street like i thought ,  their useage isn't recorded so no comparison could be made and shown. Maybe just simple you could save money having a meter. 

dunstonh

Just seems odd that people would ignore a simple option to have a water meter that could save them lots. 

Some people are paranoid.   Just look at all those that won't get smart meters for energy.

p00hsticks

jvjack said:

 I suppose that since their is no meter in the street like i thought ,  their useage isn't recorded so no comparison could be made and shown. Maybe just simple you could save money having a meter. 

Some bills or websites do have some generic info on possible costs and savings - e.g at the bottom of the page here
Installing meters in our region | Water meter | Thames Water

jvjack

dunstonh said:

Just seems odd that people would ignore a simple option to have a water meter that could save them lots. 

Some people are paranoid.   Just look at all those that won't get smart meters for energy.

I wasn't quite thinking like that. I just think being informed that a water meter can save you momey is not as showing someone how much they would save, And going on the posts i read it's lots.
I imagined that the water company could show them the savings using their real water use figures. Obviously not , after now knowing their water use isn't recorded in a street meter,

MattMattMattUK

jvjack said:

dunstonh said:

Just seems odd that people would ignore a simple option to have a water meter that could save them lots. 

Some people are paranoid.   Just look at all those that won't get smart meters for energy.

I wasn't quite thinking like that. I just think being informed that a water meter can save you momey is not as showing someone how much they would save, And going on the posts i read it's lots.
I imagined that the water company could show them the savings using their real water use figures. Obviously not , after now knowing their water use isn't recorded in a street meter,

I agree with Dunstonh, there are too many paranoid people, people on here who when told that they can more than half their water bill say they still want to pay rateable so that they are "in control" or that "no one is monitoring me", the same paranoia that is around smart meters for gas and electricity. 

It is an old expression but worth remembering "One cannot fix stupid" and in this case stupid is those who are against meters, or smart meters. 

jvjack

p00hsticks  Thanks, Link  says  'Advice if your metered bill looks like it could cost you more'  Bit confused but i see they want people to have meter.

I get more of a feeling that people don't know , rather than they are worried that anything is monitoring them.