Water bill increase 877%

Lookingforadvice111

Hello

I am new here and after a bit of advice. I have just received my water bill and my usage is recorded as having increased by 877%! I have contacted my water supplier and they have asked me lots of questions which felt a bit irrelevant tbh given the level of sudden usage increase (have we had any visitors to stay/had a newborn/got a new pet etc). I have answered them all and they have asked me to switch off the stopcock and monitor if the meter continues to go up or if it stops. It appears to have stopped. Which I assume means no water leak. I am about to go back to confirm this to the water company but wonder if anyone else has experienced similar and what the outcome was? I am so worried as they have said my direct debit will increase to £400 a month from £27!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Ayr_Rage

If you have turned off the stop valve in your house and there is no recorded water flow that just means there is no leak between the meter and the stop valve.

Now turn on that valve and see if the meter starts to move when no water is being used in the home.

If it moves with no taps open, check toilets for constant flushing and tank overflows, if not those then you have a leak somewhere in your home.

Lookingforadvice111

@Ayr_Rage thank you for this. We have just turned on the stopcock and not used any water and the meter does not move. So assume this means no leak within the home? Water company are asking us to get a plumber out to check for leaks. I wonder if it is a faulty meter perhaps?

IOWJJBTM2025

First thought - Can you access the meter and therefore check the readings on the statement are correct?

After this depending on the meter type you could try and see how much it increases each day to see if it is realistic?

IOWJJBTM2025

Out of interest how much water in litres are they saying that you are using over the last billing period (Assume 6 months)

Ms_Chocaholic

Could it be as simple as the meter having been read incorrectly.

dunstonh

 I have just received my water bill and my usage is recorded as having increased by 877%

1. were your previous readings estimates and this one an actual?
2. Or was the previous an actual, and this one an estimate?
3. I know you used the word "usage" which would suggest unit count. However, very often posters here have used the term "usage" to reflect the monetary amount and increase rather than the usage. What was the data and unit count of the the most recent actual reading and the one before that?

Have you tried reading the meter every day around the same time to see what the daily use currently is?

Bills_tobepaid

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6664637/water-bill-increase-877

Had a similar problem with Severn Trent 5 years ago, they had to replace the meter as it was over clocking the digits as the water travelled through the meter

3 years later the replacement meter did the same as the previous it overclocked

I suspect it was a increasing one of the individual rotating dial digits and adding to the volume consumed ie going from 1 to 3 rather than 1 to 2 on every cycle rotation

My brother in law now has the same issue in the United Utilities area, waiting investigation

So yes, in my experience the meters do fail and misread

Good Luck....

Bills_tobepaid

Also

A single cubic Metre of water is 1000 litres

Average small bath about 100 ish litres

The water meters tend to be black numbers are whole Cubic Metre (1000)

I tend to review actual usage in Cm3 rather than the £ bill as a first reference

So if you've gone from using 200Cm3 to 600Cm3 you know your using more 🤔 or there is a problem

Bills_tobepaid

If its any help I tend to check the usage before the price as they keep changing the pricing and the usage is simple to follow

A Cubic metres is 1000 litres

If you've gone from say 200 Cubic metres (Cm3) To say 400 the you have a problem in either usage/leak/ fault meter

The water meter dial the Black digits on the meters are Cubic metres (Cm3)

The red digits then decrease accordingly by factor of 10

100

10

1 litres etc

Average bath uses about 100 ish litres

GGood Luck