water meters?

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
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Location
Leicestershire
are they worth it?

i shower once a day, do washing up 2 or 3 times a week and use washing machine 2 or 3 times a week.

would it be worth less than £35 a month?
 
If there's not already a meter installed on the property, you get 12 months (iirc) to test it out and change your mind without obligation. So you can always give it a go, and if it doesn't work out any cheaper you can just have them remove it and go back to being charged based on rateable value. If there's already a meter installed in a property you move into, it's tough luck and it can't be removed.

For us, a water meter would work out way more expensive as we're a large family. But for single people, or small families, they often work out much cheaper.
 
I dont use a water meter given the hassle you will experience if you have a leak etc. I pay £200 every 6 months pretty much and I'm happy with that for a 2 person flat.

When I lived in Swindon, we had a leak in the pipe from the garden to the house, which resulted in a £2000 bill for 3 months use, numerous legal proceedings beetween landlord v us v letting agency v Thames Water, etc.
 
My last two 6 monthly bills were £93 and £87 on a meter. 2 adults, 2 showers a day, washing machine and dishwasher both 3 times a week.
 
I think the way to look at it is if your home has any more bedrooms than people, it's well worth it. Although me & 2 kids are in a 2 bed house & I had one fitted a few years ago, my bills are about 85 every 6 months now. My 2 are a nightmare for not flushing the loo though for a start. 1-2 wachine machine washes a week, 2-3 dishwasher. I am glad I got the metre fitted. I keep telling my mum to, her & her boyfriend in a 4 bed house. I think she is worried about having to pay for it to be fitted though?
 
SMN said:
I dont use a water meter given the hassle you will experience if you have a leak etc. I pay £200 every 6 months pretty much and I'm happy with that for a 2 person flat.

When I lived in Swindon, we had a leak in the pipe from the garden to the house, which resulted in a £2000 bill for 3 months use, numerous legal proceedings beetween landlord v us v letting agency v Thames Water, etc.
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ouch, that's a lot for a 2 bed flat. 2 people :confused:
 
When I had a Water Meter installed my Water Bill went from £39 a Month to £7 a Month, if you live alone or just a couple then they are definitely worth having, would probably be worse off for a family.
 
As above really, live on my own with no meter, 24 quid a month. I would probably be better off with a meter, but that said I don't need to consider it, it's a fixed bill, and I like that.

I certainly don't waste water, but I don't need to worry about my consumption either.
 
Do you live on your own? If so you're pretty much the same as me for usage. I switched over at the end of October last year and its saving me loads!

Previously I was on a fixed rate and it was costing me £423.62 a year!

Since the start of November I've used 11m3 of water on my meter. This is charged at 2.458p per m3 in my area for water and sewerage, so over the last 3 months its cost me about £27, so roughly £9 per month.
The standing charges for the year here are £94 for water and sewerage which is another £7.80 extra a month.

So far it works out that I've spent about £17 a month including the standing charges which is down from £35.30 per month when I was unmetered, not a bad saving in all! :D
 
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Water bills are based on your property whether metered or not, unmetered is based on the rateable value from the 1990's :rolleyes: but if you have a meter fitted then it's based on the property size & type. A terraced house will be much cheaper than a detached for e.g.
A portion of your bill is based on collected rainwater from the property (called 'unmeasured surface water) every drop of water you use is then calculated for discharge into the sewer ( called 'used water') plus standing charges which add quite a lot of %
Our bill was nearly £600 per year, we live in a 4 bed detached, band E c.tax, we had a meter fitted indoors and our first 6 monthly bill was £125, we are however much more aware of wasting water.
If after 12 months we were to decline the meter it will not removed and any future owners would then be metered
 
you can have a "single occupant water rates"
depending on where you live, i know severn trent do them, and they are means tested
so if you dont want a meter you could look into them if your water supplier does them
 
challengedavid said:
you can have a "single occupant water rates"
depending on where you live, i know severn trent do them, and they are means tested
so if you dont want a meter you could look into them if your water supplier does them
Click to expand...

I think United Utilities only do this if you are unable to have a meter fitted in your house.
 
Also worth mentioning the WaterSure scheme. If you have a water meter and are on certain benefits (including income support, JSA, HB, CTB, WTC, CTC etc) AND either:

1) You have three children or more, under the age of 19

OR

2) You have a qualifying medical condition (eg. psoriasis, incontinence issues, are on dialysis etc)

then you qualify for the scheme. You fill in a form, return it to your supplier with proof of the above as appropriate, and they put you on the scheme. It guarantees your bills will never be above the average (this year it's about £29 a month) no matter how much water you use. If you use less than the average, you only pay for what you used. The only exceptions are if you have a large (over 10,000 litres iirc) self-filling swimming pool, and you can't run automated sprinklers.
 
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