Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

Cardew

Miss_Poppy wrote: »

I live in a 2 bedroom terraced property and live on my own. I have a water metre and my water is provided by Anglian Water. A family member lives in a 2 bedroom property and also lives alone. Their water is provided by Severn Trent. Their bills are based on the rateable value of the property. They do not have a water metre. They have unlimted water usage at no extra charge. I pay for the water I use via a water metre.

I pay approximately £468.00 per annum. They pay approximately £170.00 per annum. Can anyone explain why I pay twice as much?

The whole water charging structure is flawed for historical reasons.

The intent was that eventually everyone would be metered, or if a meter could not be fitted an assessed(average) charge.

Every house built since 1990 has a meter. Those before that date were assessed on their Rateable Value(RV) and remained on that RV based charges unless they elected, or were forced, to have a meter fitted.

The RV valuation in itself is a nonsense as a means to base charges. It is possible to have a huge house with 10 people living in it with a lower RV that a estate semi with one person occupying.

I had my house built in 1988 and if I remained on the RV charges would be paying over £1,500 a year. I elected for a meter and pay approx £400.

To turn to your case, you must have something wrong, or using a huge amount of water, if you are paying £468 on a meter and living alone in the Anglian district.

A single person, on average, should use approx 60 cubic metres a year. That will cost between £220 and £260 a year.

You friends are just lucky!

pkempc

MrGreen44 wrote: »

My Mum has just got her water bill, Anglian Water now want to take £43 a month. She lives on her own so just cannot see why bill is so high.

I have told her to cancel the debit and just pay the bill when it comes, is this the right thing to do?

MrG

MrGreen44 -If she's on a meter like me then this is the same situation I had with Thames Water increasing my Direct Debit for absolutely no reason - see post #200.

You can actually save a few pounds by paying the water bill online using a cashback credit card + you get to earn interest on the money you set aside to pay the bill - double bubble! :money:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=28522645&postcount=200

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Is there a website that lets you know what your neighbours are paying for their water rates, similar to on for the Council Tax?

AMD

Gothicfairy

AMILLIONDOLLARS wrote: »

Is there a website that lets you know what your neighbours are paying for their water rates, similar to on for the Council Tax?

AMD

No, The only way to find out the rateable value of a property is either through the council ( some areas but not all ) or the water company.
However the water company will more then likely not tell you the amount of the bill. They are able to say yes or no if a property has a water meter and they are also able to tell people the RV ( as that is not covered by the DPA) but they will not go into billing amounts.
Some companies though judging by the replies to other threads here will not give you any information at all.

Card_Tart_Extraordinaire

Last year I noticed the Solow Tariff in my Anglian Water Leaflet. I checked our usage and found that at that time we qualified, just about. There are two of us living in a 3 bedroom house. So I spoke to Anglian Water who were very helpful and worked out the saving we would make and backdated it to cover our previous bill, not huge amounts but a saving nevertheless.
We changed to the Solow Tariff and we have received a bill which is for 13th June 09 to 16th February 10. The whole amount for 8 months is £90.31. Averaging out to around £135.47 for a year. On the Standard Tariff this would have cost £204.05 so saving £68.58 p.a.
Now by anyone's standards this is a very reasonable amount for our water but the biggest saving really is that being on the Solow tariff has made me much more aware of water usage.
Until June of last year we were both out at work from 8.30 am until 9pm six days a week and our water bill was over
£350 for the year on the standard tariff. Now I am working at home and my other half is only out at work from 8.30 until 7pm and our usage has reduced despite this because I have changed the way we use water, not radical change but little things.
I say I have changed because working at home I usually manage the laundry and I am at home all day

I only ever wash a full load,
I changed the ballcock setting in the cistern to fill with just enough water for a good flush (you know what I mean)
I don't flush every time I pee (I know, this is easy for me because I am here alone all day) though I still wash my hands every time of course!
We only do the washing up once a day (we don't have a dishwasher) we wash and rinse.
I don't run the tap when I clean my teeth.
I am much faster in the shower - if you wash every day you don't need ages!
I never water the garden from the tap if I must water the garden I use collected water
I definitely never wash the car at home - if I must I go to the car wash which I am sure uses less water than me washing it - after all, what is the point of making all those savings if you can't enjoy it once in a while:)
My husband just uses water the same way he always has
To tell you the truth, it took hardly any time at all to get used to it despite my poor memory and it has made a huge difference.

I am now transferring this to our use of other utilities.
Switch the kettle off at the wall between uses because I know if you don't power is still being used despite it not being switched on.
Set my desktop and laptop to go into low power if I am away for more than a few minutes etc.
We were also sent one of those free power saving plugs from E-on
All in all, I think I will have saved enough to cover the much bigger gas bill we will get because we have had a very long cold spell.
I do wear at least three layers to keep the heating bills as low a possible too. I am not a "save the planet" zealot but I am a keep the money in my pocket if I can freak.
I hope someone finds this helpful.
:j

mickridge

I am being charged surface water removal fees for sewage treatment.
My surface water does not go into my main sewer channel on my property. As far as i can tell it leads of to an other water chamber just down the street from me. I do not think it goes into a soakway.
I`m a Yorkshire Water customer, Can I claim anything back, if so how far back, or do I just have to accept it ??
Regards
Mick

Gothicfairy

Ask for a surface water form and see..Someone will come out and work it out so go from there.

Askelon

I have two houses and no income, so I'm asset rich and cash poor. I have a house in London and a house in Wales, they're both the same size and same Rateable Value. Here are the water bills compared for both:

Thames Water Welsh Water Welsh Water is more expensive by
Water Usage 146.79 165.48 113%
Standing Charge 33.97 106.92 315%
Wastewater 72.00 237.14 329%
Standing Charge 45.07 146.62 325%

There's a lot more water in Wales, but it's three times the price.

Alas I have no idea how to make the table more legible!

ragz_2

We are on a water meter and our incoming water costs only £13 a month, however our waste costs over £30, does this make sense to anyone?

Norman_Castle

Its because the cost per cubic meter is higher for waste water than for supplying clean water.