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Water Bill
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mmmmikey said:shoresybulldog said:MattMattMattUK said:shoresybulldog said:Hi guys. Joined the MSE forum because I have a question about my recent water bill and wanted to get some advice. It’s a bit long but wanted to include as much detail as possible.My bills are 6 monthly and I get an actual reading in May and estimated in November. I have just had my May bill and whilst I expected an increase in my DD due to the recent increase in charges, I noticed it had gone up by £30 a month. When I checked my usage it showed my usual water usage had doubled.I have gone through all my statements since May 2020 and I have never used more than 88m3 of water in a 6 month period (88m3 was 3 years ago). Most bills are around 65-70 every 6 months. When working out between a May and May where my actual readings are done across the last 5 years, I used around 130m3 approx. My usage between November and May is 127m3 so it’s basically doubled. With every bill, I’m charged around £200-£220 for 6 months usage but my current bill for the same period was £410. Both my partner and I were both a bit shocked because we haven’t changed any habits.Washing machine is on at least once a day, dishwasher about 3 times a week, 4 showers daily 2 adults 2 teenagers), rinsing plates in the sink and using, boiler in the winter and sinks and toilets etc. This is nothing new and doing this is usually around our normal water usage of 65m3 across 6 months. Only thing I have done different is jet wash the patio last month.I’ve checked my meter and it’s not spinning when all the water is off, when I use water, it’s spinning suggesting it’s working correctly. Meter reading is correct. Boiler doesn’t lose pressure and I’ve checked all the taps and pipes for leaks and cannot see anything. I’ve checked the toilet is not overflowing and whilst there is the tiniest of dribbles coming from the tank into the bowl (it’s really slow and ridiculously small), there is absolutely no way this would equate to same the amount of water I use in a day using my appliances and showers etc thus doubling my usage. I went out Sunday and checked my meter and came back 3 hours later and the reading was exactly how I left it when I came back. Hadnt moved a millimetre so I know the meter isnt moving when nothing is being used (including toilet). I have called south staffs water who said they don’t have any raw data to see spikes but admitted the spike was unusual so have requested an engineer just to rule out any issues or leaks etc. I’m fine with paying it but it doesn’t sit right that it’s doubled with no change in habits and even SSW saying it is also unusual based on previous bill history. Is there anybody that has had a the same issue and what they did or any other possible causes. Thanks in advance.
The next thing to do is ideally try and take daily reads for a couple of weeks, to see if there are any random spikes in usage that could indicate something, eg. the dishwasher has a problem that means instead of using 40 litres of water it now uses 100 litres per cycle. There might be something that only gets stuck occasionally, so the toilet getting stuck flowing sometimes but not all the time.
If all that fails then you might need to check a known volume of usage against what is recorded on the meter.
I'd be surprised if it's wrong but for completeness might be worth checking the accuracy of the meter, which you can do easily enough by running 10litres of water into a bucket and taking before / after readings. The more you run off the more accurate your test will be, but even 10 litres should be enough to give you a reasonable indication.0 -
shoresybulldog said:mmmmikey said:shoresybulldog said:MattMattMattUK said:shoresybulldog said:Hi guys. Joined the MSE forum because I have a question about my recent water bill and wanted to get some advice. It’s a bit long but wanted to include as much detail as possible.My bills are 6 monthly and I get an actual reading in May and estimated in November. I have just had my May bill and whilst I expected an increase in my DD due to the recent increase in charges, I noticed it had gone up by £30 a month. When I checked my usage it showed my usual water usage had doubled.I have gone through all my statements since May 2020 and I have never used more than 88m3 of water in a 6 month period (88m3 was 3 years ago). Most bills are around 65-70 every 6 months. When working out between a May and May where my actual readings are done across the last 5 years, I used around 130m3 approx. My usage between November and May is 127m3 so it’s basically doubled. With every bill, I’m charged around £200-£220 for 6 months usage but my current bill for the same period was £410. Both my partner and I were both a bit shocked because we haven’t changed any habits.Washing machine is on at least once a day, dishwasher about 3 times a week, 4 showers daily 2 adults 2 teenagers), rinsing plates in the sink and using, boiler in the winter and sinks and toilets etc. This is nothing new and doing this is usually around our normal water usage of 65m3 across 6 months. Only thing I have done different is jet wash the patio last month.I’ve checked my meter and it’s not spinning when all the water is off, when I use water, it’s spinning suggesting it’s working correctly. Meter reading is correct. Boiler doesn’t lose pressure and I’ve checked all the taps and pipes for leaks and cannot see anything. I’ve checked the toilet is not overflowing and whilst there is the tiniest of dribbles coming from the tank into the bowl (it’s really slow and ridiculously small), there is absolutely no way this would equate to same the amount of water I use in a day using my appliances and showers etc thus doubling my usage. I went out Sunday and checked my meter and came back 3 hours later and the reading was exactly how I left it when I came back. Hadnt moved a millimetre so I know the meter isnt moving when nothing is being used (including toilet). I have called south staffs water who said they don’t have any raw data to see spikes but admitted the spike was unusual so have requested an engineer just to rule out any issues or leaks etc. I’m fine with paying it but it doesn’t sit right that it’s doubled with no change in habits and even SSW saying it is also unusual based on previous bill history. Is there anybody that has had a the same issue and what they did or any other possible causes. Thanks in advance.
The next thing to do is ideally try and take daily reads for a couple of weeks, to see if there are any random spikes in usage that could indicate something, eg. the dishwasher has a problem that means instead of using 40 litres of water it now uses 100 litres per cycle. There might be something that only gets stuck occasionally, so the toilet getting stuck flowing sometimes but not all the time.
If all that fails then you might need to check a known volume of usage against what is recorded on the meter.
I'd be surprised if it's wrong but for completeness might be worth checking the accuracy of the meter, which you can do easily enough by running 10litres of water into a bucket and taking before / after readings. The more you run off the more accurate your test will be, but even 10 litres should be enough to give you a reasonable indication.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
MattMattMattUK said:shoresybulldog said:Hi guys. Joined the MSE forum because I have a question about my recent water bill and wanted to get some advice. It’s a bit long but wanted to include as much detail as possible.My bills are 6 monthly and I get an actual reading in May and estimated in November. I have just had my May bill and whilst I expected an increase in my DD due to the recent increase in charges, I noticed it had gone up by £30 a month. When I checked my usage it showed my usual water usage had doubled.I have gone through all my statements since May 2020 and I have never used more than 88m3 of water in a 6 month period (88m3 was 3 years ago). Most bills are around 65-70 every 6 months. When working out between a May and May where my actual readings are done across the last 5 years, I used around 130m3 approx. My usage between November and May is 127m3 so it’s basically doubled. With every bill, I’m charged around £200-£220 for 6 months usage but my current bill for the same period was £410. Both my partner and I were both a bit shocked because we haven’t changed any habits.Washing machine is on at least once a day, dishwasher about 3 times a week, 4 showers daily 2 adults 2 teenagers), rinsing plates in the sink and using, boiler in the winter and sinks and toilets etc. This is nothing new and doing this is usually around our normal water usage of 65m3 across 6 months. Only thing I have done different is jet wash the patio last month.I’ve checked my meter and it’s not spinning when all the water is off, when I use water, it’s spinning suggesting it’s working correctly. Meter reading is correct. Boiler doesn’t lose pressure and I’ve checked all the taps and pipes for leaks and cannot see anything. I’ve checked the toilet is not overflowing and whilst there is the tiniest of dribbles coming from the tank into the bowl (it’s really slow and ridiculously small), there is absolutely no way this would equate to same the amount of water I use in a day using my appliances and showers etc thus doubling my usage. I went out Sunday and checked my meter and came back 3 hours later and the reading was exactly how I left it when I came back. Hadnt moved a millimetre so I know the meter isnt moving when nothing is being used (including toilet). I have called south staffs water who said they don’t have any raw data to see spikes but admitted the spike was unusual so have requested an engineer just to rule out any issues or leaks etc. I’m fine with paying it but it doesn’t sit right that it’s doubled with no change in habits and even SSW saying it is also unusual based on previous bill history. Is there anybody that has had a the same issue and what they did or any other possible causes. Thanks in advance.
The next thing to do is ideally try and take daily reads for a couple of weeks, to see if there are any random spikes in usage that could indicate something, eg. the dishwasher has a problem that means instead of using 40 litres of water it now uses 100 litres per cycle. There might be something that only gets stuck occasionally, so the toilet getting stuck flowing sometimes but not all the time.
If all that fails then you might need to check a known volume of usage against what is recorded on the meter.4 -
Good result - thanks for coming back and telling us how it was resolvedNever under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers1
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