Cheaper Water Bills Article Discussion

Andy_Hamilton

To be honest around £300 for 2 people is not too far away but this depends upon how you use water. You can get a meter installed and check it for 1 year, if it's less then you currently pay you can smile. If it's more you tell the water company you do not want a meter (it stays but your bills go back to original).
If your a good water saver you could get anything upto £100 saved or it could cost you much more.

For me it's around £16-20 per month for 2 using water saving products.

Cardew

zouganelis wrote: »

Hello folks,

I was looking at the comparison table between metered and unmetered costs which refers to a 4-bed property and it looks like Severn Trent (I live in Nottingham) are charging £320 for irrespective of how many people live in the property. I live in a 2-bed semi-detached house with my wife and we pay £340 per year. Is that ok, or is it too much? I've seen a post about someone paying £315 for a 6-bed property!! Thank you in advance for any replies.

Regards,
Angelos

If you are unmetered it doesn't matter how many people live in your house as your charges are based on the Rateable Value(RV) of your house.

If metered, the size of your house doesn't matter as you are charged on the amount of water you use.

A couple in a 1 bed flat will probably not use any more water if they moved into a 6 bed house.

With Severn Trent a couple in a metered house with average consumption(120 cubic metres a year) would expect to pay approx £280 per year.

zouganelis

Thank you very much both for your replies, it does sound reasonable then. Just checking!

Cheers,
Angelos

Halfcat

Hi,
Been on a water meter for a little over a year. Using 90m/year, been paying around £270 a year, against £470 un-metered.

Prices when up earlier this year (7.7%). Then for some reason, they decided not to take any money of me for this month (Nov 08), but next month put my DD up 27% starting in Dec. I was under paying slightly, but not by this amount. Also just noticed that the prices will be going up in April, so I suppose there is an allowance for that too.

Never mind inflation at 2-4% or what ever, my company was struggling last year so we got no pay rise, then got laid off at the end of last month anyway. (Got a new better job starting in a couple of weeks, so worked out ok for me, but not everyone has been as lucky)

Jaynee123

Hi,

Just a request that people who go on a water meter to use the social tariff ie. people on certain benefits with 3 children or certain ailments, remember that as soon as one child goes over the age of 19 you will then pay the normal water meter charges. I had been on the social tariff for the last 3 years and was only paying £28 per month, my eldest has gone to Uni and my bill has soared to £58 per month. Please be careful check out how much it will be when you lose the help, before you agree to a water meter! I hope this makes sense!

deefadog

Quote:Cardew
Originally Posted by deefadog
Hi all, I know this may be a shot in the dark, but need a very rough estimate.

How much does 1 liter of water cost on a water meter, living in wales. Don't need an accurate figure just a rough price.

Basically, we have had a fault with out hot water cylinder since for over 16 months and it has been overflowing roughly 2 pints a day. I Can't get access to my bills as in work and i am speaking to the House builder this lunch time for compensation.

So roughly 1286 Liters has been wasted and i want the money back as it's there fault.

Hope some one can help as google has not been so kind to me this morning.

EDIT - Just found the info - needed to search for liters not pints

It's roughly 20p per liter, so i figure they owe me around £257



Thanks

A cubic meter of water is 1,000 litres.

I don't know the price of water where you live, but an average price including sewerage is about £2 for a cubic meter, so you have lost approx £2 if your figure of 1286 litres was correct.

However 2 pints a day for 16 months is more like 560 litres so your loss is probably about £1

20p a litre:eek: that is about 100 times too much! 5 litres for 1p is more like it!

Oooops, just found this in my favs and never realised i had a reply LoL. Anyway - house builder paid out on 20p a liter, no questions asked - one up for me LoL.

kate99

I don't know whether you have sorted matters with Southern water, I have been battling for almost a year. We knew there was a problem as we were being shown using almost a cubic metre of water a day, but got no where with phone calls. I have been in email correspondence since sept with customer services. I was told there was no leak by them, but when the matter was escalated to the customer services director suddenly we were told there was a leak. Have escalated matter to the CEO now due to time taken to answer queries.
How do you prove water usage - we have been told family of 3 (we were not family, but 3 single working people) would be expected to use 150m3 a year. We no longer live in the property or together so proof of water use is almost impossible.

Cardew

kate99 wrote: »

I don't know whether you have sorted matters with Southern water, I have been battling for almost a year. We knew there was a problem as we were being shown using almost a cubic metre of water a day, but got no where with phone calls. I have been in email correspondence since sept with customer services. I was told there was no leak by them, but when the matter was escalated to the customer services director suddenly we were told there was a leak. Have escalated matter to the CEO now due to time taken to answer queries.
How do you prove water usage - we have been told family of 3 (we were not family, but 3 single working people) would be expected to use 150m3 a year. We no longer live in the property or together so proof of water use is almost impossible.

Welcome to the forum.

The average consumption is approx 60m3 per person per year. The trouble is that almost everyone on MSE claims to use less water than average!!!!

Toilet flushing, baths and older washing machines/dishwashers are the biggest culprits.

As you say there is now way to prove your consumption, however it is easy to detect a leak. Simply switch off all water and watch the meter. Perhaps the current occupants will be interested in checking??

If you get no satisfaction from SW you can contact the Consuner Council for Water who will assist.

sixteenthofjune

Hi guys,
Does anybody know whether you have to actually own the house to change to a water meter? I think I would save changing to a meter, but I am only a rental tenant - would I have to get the landlord to sort it out (which he might not want to)?

Thanks!

Cardew

sixteenthofjune wrote: »

Hi guys,
Does anybody know whether you have to actually own the house to change to a water meter? I think I would save changing to a meter, but I am only a rental tenant - would I have to get the landlord to sort it out (which he might not want to)?

Thanks!

I believe there is no set ruling on this subject; it is a policy decision taken by the various companies.

Some allow a tenant to change regardless - if the account is in the tenant's name,

Others want a 6 month tenancy.

Some companies insist on change to a meter if there is a new name on the account(tenant of owner). The water privatisation act allows them to impose a meter if they wish. This is why some landlords keep the account in their name and get the tenant to reimburse them.