I had a water meter at my previous house. 2 of us lived there and the bill was £180 a year. I was pleased with it. We moved to our new house 15 months ago, same area and company, same occupancy. I was somewhat concerned to see the dial on the meter whizzing around even when no water was being used, and the tank was not refilling. I was more concerned when I got the first years bill-£580!!!..I turned the stop tap off, which is located next to the meter, and still it whizzed around. I contacted Severn Trent who were helpful and told me to turn the water off overnight and check the readings, I did and found one cubic metre had been used overnight (not by us though!) Severn trent arranged for a meter fitter to attend, and he confirmed by looking at it whizzing around whilst no water was being used, that it was faulty, and gave us a new one. The result- we are now using 0.17 cubic metres a day.
We had a bit of hassle getting a refund off Severn Trent. Firstly they decided to base our previous years bill on our usage 2 years ago. I argued this stating our new home was more efficient in that we don't have a bath, we have a new eco friendly washing machine and we have a water butt to water the garden. Our usage 2 years ago was 0.34 cubic metres a day. I did a check over 10 days after our new meter was fitted and found it to be 0.17. It took a few phone calls to win my case but to be fair to them they agreed with me and gave me £30 compensation for my stress. Very nice too! So yes I think water meters are good if they are working, I now regularly do a reading and check our daily usage is similiar. My next door neighbour, with a similiar house and same water company, but not on a meter, pays £360 a year. We are looking at £200 maximum for our next yearly bill.
One thing of interest that the meter fitter said is that the fitted battery inside the meter should be replaced occasionally, I think he said every 10 years but don't quote me on that. Severn Trent have to change it.
Hope this helps you!