Water meters - pros and cons?

Ember999 · 25 July 2005 at 1:46PM

Benefits if you are a two person family like us....

Used to pay £24 a month Standing Order when on normal yearly charge without a water meter.

Then paid only £13 a month Standing Order when moved to property with a water meter. So, obviously we use a lot less with a water meter and only paid for what we used.

However, then moved to Scotland where water charge is included in Council Tax so back to square one :rotfl:

Nick_C_4 · 28 July 2005 at 9:58AM

fgaughan wrote:

Wont the soap kill the grass or plants?

Some plants might be sensitive to the soap, but not grass...

MiserlyMartin · 28 July 2005 at 10:22PM

Hi guys. I am single and live in a small 3 bed semi. I don't have a meter but I did some calculations and I would save at least £100 a year if I had a meter. Yet I have gone by all these years reluctant to switch. Why? Well I am not convinced about what the water companies will do once *everybody* is on a meter. Sure its cheaper now to be on a meter, but thats because they need to give an incentive to switch. My worry is that once we are all on meters they will jack up the price and there will be nothing we can do about it. At least if there is a crisis and I need to use loads of water I know I will not pay any more.

It also annoys me that in a time of a supposed water shortage, the companies will not get their own houses in order and fix their leaking mains. They should. Only then will I start to heed any hosepipe bans, not that there are any in my area anyway...

Art_2 · 29 July 2005 at 7:47AM

MiserlyMartin wrote:

Hi guys. I am single and live in a small 3 bed semi. I don't have a meter but I did some calculations and I would save at least £100 a year if I had a meter. Yet I have gone by all these years reluctant to switch. Why? Well I am not convinced about what the water companies will do once *everybody* is on a meter. Sure its cheaper now to be on a meter, but thats because they need to give an incentive to switch. My worry is that once we are all on meters they will jack up the price and there will be nothing we can do about it. At least if there is a crisis and I need to use loads of water I know I will not pay any more.

All new properties are automatically fitted with meters as are all properties that change owners. With the problems with water shortages that we have at present it could be that the government insist that all properties are switched over within a certain period of time, such as 5 years for example.

I have been amased that we have ignored water desalination in the UK. This is used in many parts of the world to produce extra water very effectively.

Regards,
Art.

suzique · 29 July 2005 at 8:12AM

scootermacc wrote:

Does anyone have any experience or advice on whether gettnig a water meter might save money or not?

I have a natural reluctance against the idea in case my billis astronomical, but this is emotion not fact.

Anyone help?

Before we decided to change to a water meter,I filled in an online water calculator it gives you a good idea as to how much you would save.
Go to your water suppliers website and select calculator.
We had our meter fitted in May of this year and I have already worked out that our first bill will be half of what we paid monthly by direct debit.
As suggested to you already you can change back within a year,so go on take the plunge,was that a joke I just made ? :rotfl:

chicky77uk · 10 August 2005 at 5:16PM

dag wrote:

The thing that bothers me with water meters is - what happens when your next door neighbour is disconnected due to non-payment of water bills?

Legally speaking it is only business/commercial customers that may have their water disconnected due to non payment. If you happened to live above a shop and shared the supply then the shop's water couldn't be cut off.

Its probably also the main reason that there won't be loads of Utility suppliers clamouring to sell you water if and when it is ever deregulated. They won't want to take on the massive debts that many water companies have due to the fact that they have to keep supplying even when people don't pay for the service.

dalepearson · 27 September 2005 at 8:01AM

I am on a water meter, and my bills are 50% less than if I wasnt. And that with me and my girlfriend, and she uses alot of water, and we wash 2 cars every weekend.

MiserlyMartin · 7 October 2005 at 5:39PM

Yes I'd love to save a few hundred pounds on my yearly bill in the short term but what about the long term? Its not just usage, its standing charges that are lower on meters. So what guarantees do we have that once we are all on meters, the water companies won't jack up the standing charges, as they have done for people still on the rateable value compared to metered prices (see below Anglian Water's prices)

standing charge metered
water supply £24.00
sewerage services £62.00 (properties connected for both foul and surface water drainage)

Standing Charge Unmetered
water supply £95.35
sewerage services £115.11 (properties connected for both foul and surface water drainage)

Either that or they have put metered standing charges artificially low to encourage people to switch. Its also possible that they might raise the cost per cubic metre once everybody is on a meter. Once you are on a meter theres no going back. All I am saying is that yes if you try it for a year of course its cheaper now, but will it be so in the future? I've yet to see any convincing evidence to reassure me.

Robert5988 · 8 October 2005 at 2:46AM

MiserlyMartin wrote:

Yes I'd love to save a few hundred pounds on my yearly bill in the short term but what about the long term? Its not just usage, its standing charges that are lower on meters. So what guarantees do we have that once we are all on meters, the water companies won't jack up the standing charges, as they have done for people still on the rateable value compared to metered prices (see below Anglian Water's prices)

standing charge metered
water supply £24.00
sewerage services £62.00 (properties connected for both foul and surface water drainage)

Standing Charge Unmetered
water supply £95.35
sewerage services £115.11 (properties connected for both foul and surface water drainage)

Either that or they have put metered standing charges artificially low to encourage people to switch. Its also possible that they might raise the cost per cubic metre once everybody is on a meter. Once you are on a meter theres no going back. All I am saying is that yes if you try it for a year of course its cheaper now, but will it be so in the future? I've yet to see any convincing evidence to reassure me.

You have defined a potential problem, however the water companies are regulated and all price increases have to be approved.

Given the problem; what is your solution?

Are you suggesting that people should remain on the RV based bills and pay more than they need to, thus subsidising those on meters.

Or do you think that having ‘lured’ people on to metered bills, they will make RV based bills more attractive? If so why would they do that?

I hope the above does not sound facetious.

MiserlyMartin · 16 October 2005 at 9:02PM

I'm not sure I have a solution, wish I did. I wouldn't think that they will make RV based bills more attractive as then the remaining people wouldn't switch. I think they want everybody on meters so they use less. Anglian Water have even said if you switch to a meter than they will cover the repair cost if the supply pipe on your property bursts, normally you would have to pay for this on rates.

I don't have much faith in the regulators, very often they have proved to be incompetent at what they are supposed to be doing.

Water meters - pros and cons?

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