£1500 Water Bill

mokey19_73 · 2 February 2018 at 3:45PM

I moved to a four-bedroom house last summer and discovered that we have a water meter here instead of the flat rate we've always paid before. The bill has been £52 per month but I've just received a new bill and it's coming in at £128 per month for the next 12 months - £1536 for the year:( There are five of us living here and we're already struggling to pay the bills and I don't know how we're going to find an extra £80 each month for the water bill.
Does this sound right for five people in one house? The woman on the phone did say that our water consumption is slightly higher than the average five-person household but that much?!!

vacheron · 2 February 2018 at 3:53PM

That sounds extremely high me.

We have a large 4 bed with 3 of us living here, washing machine, dishwasher, 2 baths and regular garden watering, car washing etc, and our water bill has been has consistently around £33 per month for at least the last 3 years.

Robin9 · 2 February 2018 at 3:55PM

Have you read your water meter - how does your reading compare with the bill ?

Cardew · 2 February 2018 at 3:58PM

The size of your bill depends where you live as well as how much water you use. There is a huge variation in charges between different areas of UK.

With average consumption 5 people should use approx 275 cubic metres per year.

I suspect that the £52 a month did not cover your consumption and you have run up a large debit balance. So the rise to £128 a month is to cover your estimated consumption AND pay off the debit balance.

If you tell us how much water you have used, and your water company, we can work out your annual bill.

mokey19_73 · 2 February 2018 at 3:59PM

vacheron wrote: »

That sounds extremely high me.

We have a large 4 bed with 3 of us living here, washing machine, dishwasher, 2 baths and regular garden watering, car washing etc, and our water bill has been has consistently around £33 per month for at least the last 3 years.

I don't know if it makes any difference but four of us are adults so long showers. However, yours is massively cheaper than ours and we never water the garden or wash the car at home.

mokey19_73 · 2 February 2018 at 4:00PM

Robin9 wrote: »

Have you read your water meter - how does your reading compare with the bill ?

Not yet, I'm going to do that this afternoon.

mokey19_73 · 2 February 2018 at 4:05PM

Cardew wrote: »

The size of your bill depends where you live as well as how much water you use. There is a huge variation in charges between different areas of UK.

With average consumption 5 people should use approx 275 cubic metres per year.

I suspect that the £52 a month did not cover your consumption and you have run up a large debit balance. So the rise to £128 a month is to cover your estimated consumption AND pay off the debit balance.

If you tell us how much water you have used, and your water company, we can work out your annual bill.

My bill isn't available to view online yet so I can't see what I've been using. It says that it was last read on 31st December 2017 so someone from the water company must have come out and read it as I didn't provide that information.

Cardew · 2 February 2018 at 4:12PM

Phone them and get the consumption.

matelodave · 5 February 2018 at 2:21PM

Did you read the meter and give them a reading when you moved in - if you didn't then theres a fair chance that you could be paying towards the last tenant/owners water bill.

You should be able to subtract your initial reading from your current reading to check how much water you've used in cu.m and then using the tariff info on the bill or the water co's website work out how much it's cost you.

Whe you know how much you've used in cu.m you can then start reading the meter abit more often and trying to use less.

£1500 Water Bill

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