Water meters

I live in a one bedroom flat, downsized when I moved areas. I shower every day, have a dishwasher, washing machine goes on 3-4 times a week and my bill is £7 a month. The meter was already installed as it was a brand new flat. Much cheaper than the 3 bedroom house I previously lived in

It is worth knowing that if you have three children under sixteen or a disabled person with certain problems if you have a water meter water companies guarantee that your bill will not be above a certain sum. Definitely worth checking out.

Reported both the dodgy-looking posts on this thread. Don't know why the one which gillybob reported this morning hasn't been removed yet! I couldn't add a comment to the report as it wouldn't appear when I tried to type it (IYSWIM).

I was considering changing to a water meter and went on the UU website to investigate. They had a section where you entered all the information about how many of you were in the property; how many showers or baths did you have a week; did you have a dish washer etc. At the end of the questions, it told you whether you would be better off staying as you were or switching to a water meter. I stayed as I was. Worth checking your own water utility websites for similar.

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last line should be
Friends in France had a similar leak, but they have a meter.
Bill for 3000+euro.

Someone we know has just found out that he has a leak in his backyard. Goodness knows how much water wasted. But he doesn't have a meter so it won't cost him.
OTO - bill for 3000+euro!

My experience is different to most. There are just us two retired in the house. Thames Water fitted a meter outside and send us a comparision of what we would spend on the meter compared to the monthly we spend now.
It turns out no difference at all. In fact last comparision was a £1 more if we are on a meter.
DH does love to water the garden and we have a automatic watering system for the pots, but we go away in the caravan about 8 weeks a year, we have one shower each per day, I put the dishwasher on once a day and the washing machine once nearly every day.
Our average usage according to TW is 441 litres a month what a 4 person household would expect to use.?

Yuk Reported .

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Well that's good to hear Maggiemaybe. If only they would spread the word to our lot!

Our metered water payments went down this year, presumably because we used our hose less. This wouldn't happen without a meter.

Then the youngsters in your family are a different breed to those in mine, who have a lot more care for the environment than I remember having.

£12.98 pcm for us on a water meter. We do watch what we use but have showers, d/w, outside tap and hose and w. Machine so use quite a few gadgets.

.Sticking my head above the parapet here a tad so here goes. Why shouldn't a young family be metered and pay for what they use? The youngsters in our extended family waste so much water with ne'er a thought for the environment and it just annoys this grannie. Just sayin' .

We had a letter from our water supplier recently, informing us that our reading was much higher than previously, and advising us to check for water leaks. We already knew we'd have a huge bill this time as we had a problem with the bathroom toilet continuously running. We tried to fix it ourselves, but had to resort to getting a plumber in. It needed new innards!
I thought it was good of the water company to let us know.

With a meter we pay about £40.00 a month. Previously when we lived in a property without a meter the annual cost was about £1600. As the house was Victorian and we had no idea where the pipes ran we were too worried by the thought of leaks to sign up for a meter.
We are a household of 2 adults, showers not baths but lots of washing!

No problem, PamelaJ1, as you say there'll rarely be a consensus on Gransnet!

But as I said early in the thread, we're not having a water meter installed, because we wouldn't want a family moving in here after us to be lumbered with a much higher bill. Ours is low anyway because our house is on the lowest Council Tax band, so it would make precious little difference to the two of us now. But we brought up our three children here, and I'm very glad we didn't have a meter in those days!

Sorry Maggiemaybe,
I got the impression that everyone was pro water meters.
I must have missed the posters who disagreed.
So there wasn’t an actual vote- just a figure of speech.

What’s unanimous, PamelaJ?

If you don't have a meter, it is illegal to use an unattended hose or watering system. Our watering system probably costs us £20 extra a year, but we consider it worth it to keep plants alive when we are not home.

Charleygirl have you changed your mind? I can’t help but think that,as you seem to be using water very sparingly you must be better off with a meter.
Surely your tank doesn’t need to be drained very often.
The vote on here seems to be unanimous, how often does that happen on gransnet?
We are on a meter and it’s much cheaper than it was. I agree with Gabriella it could mean that householders are more careful but I don’t think that is always the case. I have always been very aware of wasting water and it was still cheaper for us although I don’t believe my habits have changed.

I'm with Anglian Water. They have a yearly charge of £525 plus an extra amount based on the rateable value of your property. There are two of us in our house and we pay half that for metered water.

Having a meter makes you much more careful with water, as you actually pay for what you use and dispose of . My sister doesn’t have a meter and uses water like .... well like water ? ? ?

We had no voice but to have a water meter but last year we were the victims of water theft ( yes really ) when we received a bill for £1800 for 6 months . Long story very short ( and boy did it take some working out and proving ) but a window cleaning company were using our garden tap to fill their vast water storage vessel on the back of their truck . It resulted in almost being taken to court by the water company .

Sorry for digressing but if you have a water meter and an outside tap PLEASE keep it locked or switched off when your not at home !

I was thinking about a meter until I got chatting to a man who worked for water board at a party & he told me that they are encouraging everyone to get a meter by making the bills less & then the prices will rise a lot once the majority have switched.
I also fill 2 ponds in garden in summer & water garden & although we shower mainly I have the dishwasher & washing machine on daily. I think I'll stay with our current payments until we are forced to change- which will come sooner or later apparently.