water surge pricing
- Thread starter Tram
- Start date
Yeah over the past say 15 years things are definitely improving, and we do definitely need more reservoirs and it's frustrating they're not building them.
I actually work for a company who build the products and services to detect the leaks which triggers the water companies to send the people out and fix them. E.g., loggers with modems in that you install on pipe networks which record audio from the pipes each day and upload it to the cloud where we look for leak signatures in the audio and compare it with other loggers installed on the network that heard the same signature to pin-point where leaks are (to within around 5 metres anyway) and then when someone goes out to site there's other products you can use to pin-point it to the exact spot.
I'm not close enough to the repair work side but generally I think the opinion is that the outsourced companies just want to get the job over with quickly and get paid. Ideally the water companies would be employing more skilled people internally to do it.
I know they're all going around and replacing old pipes with modern plastic, that should definitely help. I've seen photos of plastic (MDPE/HDPE) water pipe survive earthquakes and sinkholes so as long as it's installed correctly a bit of ground movement should hopefully be OK - but lots of people don't install it correctly and it'll fail after a few years than than 100 years if done correctly.
I do quote enjoy https://www.youtube.com/@OriginalLeakDetective/ 's videos about finding leaks, although it's mostly domestic rather than mains.
That will teach me for skim reading the article!
In that case fair enough
Yes actually
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Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
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- 8,220
The thing is they'll still put a hosepipe ban in so you still can't wash the car you'll just be charged more for what you do use, as if the bills aren't rocketing up enough as it is. Hosepipe ban ticks me off the water supply (southern) doesn't have any restrictions but the waste water (SE water) does but the ban is a blanket one so you're forbidden to use the hose even though the supply is unrestricted, I wasn't planning on connecting a hose to the toilet outlet anyhow...“Granular consumption data from smart meters, for example, can support greater innovations in tariffs, including seasonal tariffs and surge pricing,” it said earlier this year."
Water firms to impose surge pricing during heatwaves
Water companies will use smart meters to increase prices in the summer, meaning customers will pay more during heatwaves.uk.yahoo.com
Just came across this, It getting out of hand now, this could be the norm for everything in the future.
15% leakage for SE water there are streams running down streets from leaking mains that have been there an age and we're still restricted from using it ourselves.
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We all know what happens with surge pricing,it spills out to otehr industries,, and before you know it, everything is surge pricing. I think the regulators were aware of this. Water is a basic necessity, and applying surge pricing to it is,"perverse".
Try living without electric for 7 days...
I simultaneously hate it but it is good at the same time, you can save money from it if you are a "smart" user (pun intended)
Sure it might be interpreted as dystopian but services cost money and i think the UK is still living in the past for so many of its services.
As long as the utility companies reinvest the money properly (they wont) and if you want are allowed to use as much as you want during a surge prices period i dont think its a problem. Adapt your usage if you genuinely struggle to pay a water bill.
People are fanatical about electric pricing and how to achieve the best deal why not do it with water too.
I simultaneously hate it but it is good at the same time, you can save money from it if you are a "smart" user (pun intended)
Sure it might be interpreted as dystopian but services cost money and i think the UK is still living in the past for so many of its services.
As long as the utility companies reinvest the money properly (they wont) and if you want are allowed to use as much as you want during a surge prices period i dont think its a problem. Adapt your usage if you genuinely struggle to pay a water bill.
People are fanatical about electric pricing and how to achieve the best deal why not do it with water too.
Perhaps if the companies fixed the leaks first it would be a good start.
www.ofwat.gov.uk
Water lost = 48.8 litres per person per day (17,812 year) in england and wales in the year 2023-24
Leakage - Ofwat
In England and Wales, leakage is treated water lost from the distribution system. It includes water lost from the companies’ distribution networks and supply pipe losses from consumers’ pipes.
www.ofwat.gov.uk
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You tend to be stuck with the company that does your bit of pipe onto your property.
But washing the car with a watering can is not so bad.
Well like everything it starts like that, but then they welcome the rest of the consumers in to the scheme. They sell it too you like this, you fall for it them bang you being surged priced.
Surge pricing means you'll pay more during peak water usage times. That means you might find yourself up at 2 a.m. filling water jugs, only to get up again at 7 a.m. for work. Showers would need to happen between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m,anytime outside would come with higher rates. Families with kids who take baths around 6 or 7 p.m. would be hit by the increased costs.
Zero thought put into that.
I'll just choose to have a shower hours after exercise or after doing some DIY. How would you fit it all in, so I exercise before work, I then have to go to work stinking? Bath the children when? Not too mention surge pricing on electric so I have to do the vacuuming at 2am, sure the neighbours will be happy about that.
So glad I keep refusing a water meter.
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I can understand penalising excess consumption in times like now where it has been dry for months where I live in the south.
I just don't understand how they can justify peak times during the day. How does the cost to supply water change during the day.
I just don't understand how they can justify peak times during the day. How does the cost to supply water change during the day.
Soldato
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- 14 Jul 2005
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- Birmingham
That kind of granularity is years probably decades away, I wouldn't worry about it. Only about 5-10% of the country currently has the smart meters needed to make it work.
Also I'm pretty confident it will never get to intra-day pricing. At least not for many decades. The article talks about rising block tariffs or seasonal pricing, those aren't intra-day pricing.
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Wife was looking to get another LayZspa, fortunately the local store has run out of stock
They can’t because water doesn’t require balancing instant demand and consumption like electricity does.
People are looking at the electricity model and speculating this is how it would go but they have not considered the supply of these two utilities is so fundamentally different, they are not even remotely comparable.
Except that would have zero impact because:
1) water companies operate under a fixed revenue model.
2) the underlying infrastructure would be owned and operated by the same company so the only thing would change is the name at the top of the bill. This is what happens with electricity and broadly speaking, any internet provider working off BTs FTTP/C network*.
*Yes I am aware there are some small differences between providers once you get off BT’s network into the ISP’s backbone but the fundamental point is the same.
1) water companies operate under a fixed revenue model.
2) the underlying infrastructure would be owned and operated by the same company so the only thing would change is the name at the top of the bill. This is what happens with electricity and broadly speaking, any internet provider working off BTs FTTP/C network*.
*Yes I am aware there are some small differences between providers once you get off BT’s network into the ISP’s backbone but the fundamental point is the same.
What does rain have to do with water filtration & distribution?
All that achieves is adding a middle man to extract a bit more profit for themselves to process your bill and not a lot else.