metered vs unmetered water

ttaskmaster said:
Most residential properties these days have power, so no.
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You say this, but @Jez has a valid point. Your electricity smart meter is part of the network, it's powered by the supply. You make it sound like they'll just run a bit of flex from the boundary where the meter is, to a 13amp socket. That's just not going to happen. Going to tap into a circuit at the CU? So now they need an army of sparkys too?

Also, for that to happen will have to be a major shift in T&Cs, so now we have to pay for the energy for their smart meter to operate?

I don't see it myself. The few people I know who have a meter it's nowhere near power. Small sample, granted, but I can't see it being too different for the majority.
 
My meter cost is about £120 a year but I am on a septic tank so no sewerage charges so it's pretty cheap. Thames Water in Gloucestershire.

That's two adults in a 3 bed, showers every day, 3 cars to wash etc.

In contrast, my parents are Thames Water in London, in a LARGE house and my dad refused for years to meter up. He's one of the highest tax bands so his water rates were nearly £1000 a year. Moved to a meter and it's about 1/4 of that. But there are just the two of them now....

Personally I've saved a fortune compared to my old unmetered flat (but I had a marine fish tank there 500L so the RO was worth the unmetered alone!!)
 
Kol said:
You say this, but @Jez has a valid point. Your electricity smart meter is part of the network, it's powered by the supplier. You make it sound like they'll just run a bit of flex from the boundary where the meter is, to a 13amp socket. That's just not going to happen. Going to tap into a circuit at the CU? So now they need an army of sparkys too?

Also, for that to happen will have to be a major shift in T&Cs, so now we have to pay for the energy for their smart meter to operate?

I don't see it myself. The few people I know who have a meter it's nowhere near power. Small sample, granted, but I can't see it being too different for the majority.
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Surely in this day and age you could have a self powered meter - s small turbine powered by the flow of water and a rechargeable battery. It will use a very small amount of power...as you say, there is no chance in hell they're going to power up water meters!
 
SeatIbiza said:
Surely in this day and age you could have a self powered meter - s small turbine powered by the flow of water and a rechargeable battery. It will use a very small amount of power...
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That is actually genius.
 
Our water meter is fitted indoors where the rising main enters the house, it uses AMR technology, A transmitter fitted to the top of the meter will send consumption data to a hand held receiver unit when a meter reader walks or drives past our premises. This transmission only takes a few seconds, after which the AMR unit remains inactive until the next meter read is taken.
AMR units transmit 4,500 times less radio wave energy than a baby monitor
 
Interesting debate

My water company affinity water said that they are moving all customers to metered water within 5 years but I fear this will cost me more as we use a lot of water in the summer time in the garden.

Surely, a customer has a choice in what they can have, also I am worried that by changing over the lead pipe (other thread) will give this company a better opporunity to move me over to a meter

I do wonder about the challenges around getting electricty supplied to a water meter though
Hopefully it will not happen!
 
psd99 said:
Interesting debate

I do wonder about the challenges around getting electricty supplied to a water meter though
Hopefully it will not happen!
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If a smart meter is not practicable they will use AMR technology as I mentioned in post 45 above, they have a 10-12 year battery life as the reading pulse is only triggered when the meter is actually read
 
BigBoy said:
Lol no
Gas meters have batteries in them same type as in smoke alarms 10year lifespan.
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Ah ok they could do that for water meters then I guess. Anyway, smart metering is a waste of time entirely. A monthly pulse to get reasonable bill accuracy is enough for everyone except high use industrial, who would have their own flow monitoring anyway.

To the person above with the lead pipe you should get that changed as its a long term health risk plus youll likely get a pressure boost also as lead pipes are thinner internally.

I find it funny people disagree with paying for what you use which is how everything else works. Its very selfish.
 
danlightbulb said:
Ah ok they could do that for water meters then I guess. Anyway, smart metering is a waste of time entirely. A monthly pulse to get reasonable bill accuracy is enough for everyone except high use industrial, who would have their own flow monitoring anyway.

To the person above with the lead pipe you should get that changed as its a long term health risk plus youll likely get a pressure boost also as lead pipes are thinner internally.

I find it funny people disagree with paying for what you use which is how everything else works. Its very selfish.
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Selfish. Lol

Everything else doesn't work like that either.
 
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robj20 said:
Selfish. Lol
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It is selfish. Water is a finite resource, essential to our well being yet come the summer many people have free reign to waste tonnes of it on their grass. If they had to pay extra for that, then maybe theyd think twice, or at least then it would be fair on others. Remember we all pay for the water that unmetered customers use beyond their fair share, the cost of that isnt ignored its split across the whole customer base.
 
danlightbulb said:
It is selfish. Water is a finite resource, essential to our well being yet come the summer many people have free reign to waste tonnes of it on their grass. If they had to pay extra for that, then maybe theyd think twice, or at least then it would be fair on others. Remember we all pay for the water that unmetered customers use beyond their fair share, the cost of that isnt ignored its split across the whole customer base.
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You think water runs out. Interesting.

I pay for unlimited water I will use it how i see fit. You can't just go daft when levels get low either we often get hosepipe bans.
Your not really paying for the water itself either more the service to provide it, and clean foul water.

Which when you think of your metered water your paying the same for foul wether or not that water actually goes to foul. If you water your garden with 1000 liters. Your paying for 1000 liters with of foul as well.

I presume you don't agree with the NHS then, afteral how dare someone pay the same and use more than their fair share.

It just screams of jealousy IMO.
 
... even with the £54p/m all in - w/std charge say ~6 - and 50% water/seqage split that's £6/3m^3 per week of water to use to break even on metered,
what's the toilet fliush percentage ?

1000 liters that's nothing bet I use that in a week.
Probably about 4 baths a week that holds at least 150liters.
Fish tank gets a 50% change every week, that's 100 liters.
Then you have the jetwash both cars every week over winter, showers every day, washing up twice a day.
Baby bath is probably 10 liters a day.
Baby steriliser is 5 liters a day
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danlightbulb said:
It is selfish. Water is a finite resource, essential to our well being yet come the summer many people have free reign to waste tonnes of it on their grass. If they had to pay extra for that, then maybe theyd think twice, or at least then it would be fair on others. Remember we all pay for the water that unmetered customers use beyond their fair share, the cost of that isnt ignored its split across the whole customer base.
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I dont follow what you mean by water being a finite resource? We do not destroy water when it passes through our properties. I understand that thames water have to treat it, so to them it is constrained as a commodity and it is in their interest to control usage, but ultimately when demand outstrips their capacity, they will just build more infrastructure.

I am clearly missing something :p
 
I get Dan's point, while water itself isn't finite, treating waste water so it's potable uses finite resources. If we waste less water, we waste less energy required to treat that water.
 
Cant argue with that, although i do wonder how significant that energy consumption is in the scheme of things. This is groundwater rather than sewage, which is all that is produced when watering a garden as per his example...I doubt that it is too energy intensive to treat this grade of water.
 
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