Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

MTDancer

We, also, are a couple with no children in a 2 bed flat in Devon. On a water meter. We are very frugal and our monthly payment is £55 a month so I suggest you have something wrong. Perhaps you have a leak somewhere?

Gothicfairy

Aardy wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm most confused. Most people on this thread are paying around the £400 mark for an annual water bill. Ours has just come in at £1291.57. We have a water meter fitted. My husband and I live in a 2 bedroom ground floor flat. We both work full time and have no children. Neither of us take baths, only showers. We do have a dishwasher which goes on every 3 days or so and also a washing we use twice or 3 times a week. We have no outdoor water supply as there are communal gardens.
Why oh why are we paying SO much more than everyone else it seems?? We are on the Anglian Water 'SoLow' rate and our payments per month have been put up to £108.00. This is on par with our council tax!
Does anyone else pay this much??? Or does anyone know what we could do about it? Seems ludicrous.

Thanks

Abs

Is the bill based on actual meter readings ?
Is the meter serial number the same as your meter ?
Is the reading correct ?
Do you have a leak ( turn off all water in your property IE taps and see if your meter is spinning.
Is the meter a Fusion ? They can and do over read some times.

Cardew

Is your flat in a converted building?

Perhaps you are paying for water for the whole building?

camillamarie123

I was wondering if anyone has any advice.
I am moving to a flat with my boyfriend in a month and I rang United Utilities and they said that the flat has a water meter, and was currently being estimated. They said they estimate on how many people are living there, however only one person is registered as living there but actually he is sub-letting.
They told me the current tenant's reading it 732, does anybody know if that would be £'s for the whole year or quarter?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated i did not know how complicated moving would be! :eek:

Cardew

Are you sure that United Utilities discussed another persons account with you?

'732' is meaningless unless it is the estimated meter reading.

The two of you will use around 110 cubic metres a year if you have average consumption. Many are able to use much less.

There are other factors that affect cost, but £250 to £300 a year would be a ballpark figure.

flatpackmac

I wonder if I can get some advice please
I have recently applied for a water meter to be put into my home, when the Surveyor came to survey, it turns out that the water supply is shared with my neighbour.
She had a meter put in 6 years ago, and has been paying for the consumption of both of our water. I have been paying unmetered rates for 4 years.
Am I entitled to a rebate? Could it be to pay my share of my neighbours 4 year payment, by crediting my account with the balance of overpayment, this would amount to a guestimate of £1000?
Where do I stand with a claim as the water was metered since before I moved in but was just given a simple unmetered bill?
Many Thanks

Cardew

flatpackmac wrote: »

I wonder if I can get some advice please
I have recently applied for a water meter to be put into my home, when the Surveyor came to survey, it turns out that the water supply is shared with my neighbour.
She had a meter put in 6 years ago, and has been paying for the consumption of both of our water. I have been paying unmetered rates for 4 years.
Am I entitled to a rebate? Could it be to pay my share of my neighbours 4 year payment, by crediting my account with the balance of overpayment, this would amount to a guestimate of £1000?
Where do I stand with a claim as the water was metered since before I moved in but was just given a simple unmetered bill?
Many Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

As I understand it from your post, only your neighbour is entitled to a rebate, not yourself.

You have properly been charged on the basis of your Rateable Value(RV).

Your neighbour will be entitled to a rebate based on an estimate of how much of 'your' water and sewerage usage she has been paying for 6 years.

happy-ali

If you are a very low user, the monthly charge of the meter can be more than the charge of the water, as it is for me. I made a bad mistake changing from un-metered, not knowing that there was a meter charge. Now I pay more for the meter than the water.

amiehall

happy-ali wrote: »

If you are a very low user, the monthly charge of the meter can be more than the charge of the water, as it is for me. I made a bad mistake changing from un-metered, not knowing that there was a meter charge. Now I pay more for the meter than the water.

I'm confused. There is a standing charge for all water bills whether they're based on RV or a meter reading. If you are a very low user, I find it very hard to believe that your standing charge for a meter is higher than the entire RV bill? Otherwise why would anyone gain by being on a meter?

The standing charge for metered usage in my area is lower than the RV standing charge.

Cardew

happy-ali wrote: »

If you are a very low user, the monthly charge of the meter can be more than the charge of the water, as it is for me. I made a bad mistake changing from un-metered, not knowing that there was a meter charge. Now I pay more for the meter than the water.

Welcome to the forum.

Why was it a mistake?

The only issue concerning costs is what you were paying before with charges based on the Rateable Value(RV), and your present metered costs.

It would be most unusual for a very low user, with water supply costs less than the standard charges, not to be better off on a meter.

If you had a very low RV this could happen, but it would be atypical.