Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

Cardew

surfer_chicky wrote: »

Hi Guys

I have a meter it was fitted when we moved in, but we have the unmetered bills still. Anyhow I have just got this years bill in at £276 ish for the year.
Now I live in 3 bed terrace, only 2 of us, out all day during the week.

I did the USwitch thingy, wasn't lieing proabaly over over exaggerated are usage and it said Average thats it.

So do you reckon i would save switching to metered water?

A meter was probably fitted by a previous occupant, but the reverted to the original tariff within 12 months.

Depends on the company if £276 is more than you are likely to pay with a meter.

If you look at the website for your company and calculate costs for 120 cubic metres(the average for a couple) you will get an idea.

I suspect with most companies there will not be much in it either way.

maxpat17

Just found out that Anglian water will cut your bills by 20-30% if you are on benefits and have three children at home under 19.

I am sumbitting my application today...Cost to come down from £500 odd pounds to £300.

:j

ljsilson

My water bill has just gone upto £69 per month (for 10 months). I only live in a 3 bedroomed semi in West Yorkshire. I don't know anyone who pays this amount. I have queried with Yorkshire Water who insist this is correct. Would a water meter definately be cheaper for a family of 4? It surprised me that article quoted average bill as approx £300. mine is double this

jeferey

ljsilson wrote: »

My water bill has just gone upto £69 per month (for 10 months). I only live in a 3 bedroomed semi in West Yorkshire. I don't know anyone who pays this amount. I have queried with Yorkshire Water who insist this is correct. Would a water meter definately be cheaper for a family of 4? It surprised me that article quoted average bill as approx £300. mine is double this

I pay £502 for a 4 bedder in North Notts. so yours seems very expensive. I have signed up for a water meter even though we also have 4 people. You don't have a lot to lose as you can revert back within 12 months if you find you are paying more. Go for it!

p2w_v2.1

ljsilson wrote: »

My water bill has just gone upto £69 per month (for 10 months). I only live in a 3 bedroomed semi in

ljsilson wrote: »

West Yorkshire. I don't know anyone who pays this amount. I have queried with Yorkshire Water who insist this is correct. Would a water meter definately be cheaper for a family of 4? It surprised me that article quoted average bill as approx £300. mine is double this

My partner and I share a 3-bed semi in West Yorkshire. We pay £36.75 per month.

Are you sure your annual bill is £690? (£69x10 as stated). Yorkshire water have 5 billing cycle options:

1) 1 payment in full
2) 2 payments, half yearly
3) 8 monthly payments
4) 10 monthly payments
5) 24, twice monthly payments


I rang them earlier to ask about our rate as price comparison sites state our bill should be approx £300 to £350 a year and that the average UK water bill is approx £343 per unit, yet ours is at least £100 over this amount.

I was told the amount was set by the rateable value (RV) of our property and these values were set in the 1970's and could not be changed / challenged.

Ive done plenty of reading and research on the topic but cannot find out more information RE: rateable value levels, anybody know more about them? :question:

Cardew

[quote=p2w_v2.1;

Ive done plenty of reading and research on the topic but cannot find out more information RE: rateable value levels, anybody know more about them? :question:[/quote]

Welcome to the forum.

There are loads of posts on this forum explaining Rateable Value(RV) if you do a search you will find them.

Essentially the RV was the way of assessing the 'local taxes' prior to 1990 when it changed to poll tax and now Council Tax.

It was based on the notional rental value of your property. The last general RV valuation was in 1973 although it could have been any time up to 1990.

It is important to note that it is not the sale value of your property; so it is possible(albeit unlikely) for a Band H mansion to have a lower RV than a Band C semi.

Lots of factors determined the RV. Location, modernisation(in 1973) like CH, garage etc.

If you were renting in 1973 you might be happy to rent a nice new well located semi, but not rent and pay for the upkeep of an unmodernised mansion in 20 acres.

With RV you pay xx pence per £1 RV for water and yy pence per £1 RV for sewerage. So if your house has a RV of £200 you will pay half as much as a house in the same area with a RV of £400(there are some variations on this, but that is the principle)

The RV cannot be changed

sherriesaturne

:mad: :eek: my water has just gone up by £70 with the new bill now being £1275, i live in bolton, i phoned to ask for a meter as theres only 2 of us live in a 3 bedroomed detached house, theyve told me it will be 3 months before they send someone to do a servey to see if we are suitable for a meter then if we are another month to put one in is there nothing i can do ive been paying this sort of money for 7 years now and it just seems way to much to be paying for water.

keith23

Hi everyone,
my names Keith and this is my first post.

After reading through all the posts in this thread i was inspired to try and bring my water bill with Southern Water down by asking for a meter. I live alone in a one bed flat and have just had the 01/04/09 - 31/03/10 bill through my door which has increased to £323.42. I've been here 3 years.

Using the info from this thread i contacted my landlord, unfortunately i rent, but he refused to have a meter installed as, "it makes properties harder to rent"! He said southern water aren't interested in installing meters in his properties when new tenants come in and when i spoke to SW about it they indeed showed no interest whatsoever! After explaining that i live alone, only have a normal shower and don't water the garden or have a swimming pool etc i then asked them for an assessed water charge but they refused saying they only do this if fitting a meter is impossible so sorry, but hard luck, the bill stands!

Have i done all i can and am just unlucky until the regulations get changed or is there anything else i can do to try and obtain a fairer charge?

Thanks very much for any advice on this and for waking me up to this in the first place!

Cardew

keith23 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
my names Keith and this is my first post.

After reading through all the posts in this thread i was inspired to try and bring my water bill with Southern Water down by asking for a meter. I live alone in a one bed flat and have just had the 01/04/09 - 31/03/10 bill through my door which has increased to £323.42. I've been here 3 years.

Using the info from this thread i contacted my landlord, unfortunately i rent, but he refused to have a meter installed as, "it makes properties harder to rent"! He said southern water aren't interested in installing meters in his properties when new tenants come in and when i spoke to SW about it they indeed showed no interest whatsoever! After explaining that i live alone, only have a normal shower and don't water the garden or have a swimming pool etc i then asked them for an assessed water charge but they refused saying they only do this if fitting a meter is impossible so sorry, but hard luck, the bill stands!

Have i done all i can and am just unlucky until the regulations get changed or is there anything else i can do to try and obtain a fairer charge?

Thanks very much for any advice on this and for waking me up to this in the first place!

Welcome to the forum.

The water company are quite correct, assessed charges are when a meter can't be fitted.

Your landlord really shouldn't refuse you a meter, and in any case even if 2 people were in the flat a meter will probably be cheaper.

The problem is your landlord, not the water company.

keith23

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

The water company are quite correct, assessed charges are when a meter can't be fitted.

Your landlord really shouldn't refuse you a meter, and in any case even if 2 people were in the flat a meter will probably be cheaper.

The problem is your landlord, not the water company.

Many thanks Cardew, i thought that may have been the case but as i'm the optimistic type i thought i'd throw it out there! Best wishes, Keith