Water Rates or meter

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 12:54
Water Rates or meter - scot22

Currently paying water rates which seem high ( pretty obvious about most charges now ) There are two adults and what I would consider normal water usage, e.g washing etc.

Is it likely that I would benefit changing to a meter ? I think so but have a suspicion of anything which appears to be pushed by a big organisation. Any experiences/views ?

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 13:23
Water Rates or meter - Falkirk Bairn

What do you pay just now? Look at your bill an see how it is made up.

Large expensive house = high bill. If there are few @ home usually better with meter

Small house with many occupants you can be better off on non-meter supply.

Do you water garden, wash cars, take a lot of baths rather than showers, run lots of clothes & dishwater loads daily?

Try this

www.unitedutilities.com/is-a-meter-right-for-me.as...x

Remember you pay for water and you pay for sewage in the total bill.

If you have a soak-away for rainfall rather than it going down the drain then you pay less than normal for waste water charge.

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 14:46
Water Rates or meter - bathtub tom

You need to look very carefully at your water consumption.

I've a water meter, that was compulsorily fitted, although I had the option to continue paying based on council tax band.

This gave me the option of pricing each method.

There's two of us in a 3-bed-semi and due the the other half's love of the dishasher and washing machine, it worked out cheaper not to pay for metered water.

This happened a few years ago, since when the cost of metered water has risen more sharply than a non-metered supply.

My neighbours mostly elected for the metered option and are now regretting their decision as they can't revert.

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 19:33
Water Rates or meter - scot22

Thanks FB for an extremely helpful post, especially added link. I really appreciate it and will give meter a go ! Reckon I should save.

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 19:36
Water Rates or meter - scot22

Thanks bathtub tom for another extremely helpful post . For some reason only able to read yours after reply to FB. Your post ties in with what my wife thinks likely to happen ! Back to more research, not going to rush.

Edited by scot22 on 23/02/2015 at 19:37

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 21:07
Water Rates or meter - Ben 10
The water companies have been pushing meters stating that you will save money over rates.
When everyone is conned to change over, they will wack up meter prices. That's a market economy.
Don't be fooled that meters are going to be a cheaper way to pay for water.

I might put a meter in my return pipe work and charge them for the water I send back to them. At a reduced rate of course for filtering and sending back out as clean. ??
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Mon 23 Feb 2015 21:44
Water Rates or meter - alan1302

There are two of us and it is cheaper on a meter than just paying the flat rate.

@Ben10 - you need to move to Yorkshire our water payments are coming down this year.

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Mon 23 Feb 2015 21:52
Water Rates or meter - gordonbennet

Quite right Ben, if a large company or govt dept are 'encouraging' you do something, and from the goodness of their heart letting you 'upgrade' to a cheaper system for free or bribed in some way, then you know very well there's going to be a nasty sting in the tail long term.

One of the reasons we'll be resisting the fitting of a smart electric meters until the EU gestapo physically force us at jackbooted gunpoint to have one, then we'll deal with the thing when the Panzer has rumbled on down the road.

Do not follow the indoctrinated herd.

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Tue 24 Feb 2015 12:44
Water Rates or meter - alan1302

One of the reasons we'll be resisting the fitting of a smart electric meters until the EU gestapo physically force us at jackbooted gunpoint to have one, then we'll deal with the thing when the Panzer has rumbled on down the road.

Do not follow the indoctrinated herd.

What can be bad about a Smart Meter? All it does is allow the electrric/gas company to bill you for exactly what you have used without having to send someone round to your house to check or to produce an estimated bill.

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Tue 24 Feb 2015 15:38
Water Rates or meter - gordonbennet

What can be bad about a Smart Meter? All it does is allow the electrric/gas company to bill you for exactly what you have used without having to send someone round to your house to check or to produce an estimated bill.

And who's collecting the data, who's protecting it, are access codes going to be left on a train for potential burglars to work out if people work nights or are possibly away from home, data to be collected every 30 mins, no thanks they know far too much about us already.

As for billing, its simple enough for the customer to read their own, the present system isn't broke but that never sees to stop anyone fixing the unbroken.

I suspect there's more to all this than meets the eye and the real downsides will rear their ugly heads when its too late, no thanks.

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Wed 25 Feb 2015 12:43
Water Rates or meter - alan1302

And who's collecting the data, who's protecting it, are access codes going to be left on a train for potential burglars to work out if people work nights or are possibly away from home, data to be collected every 30 mins, no thanks they know far too much about us already.

As for billing, its simple enough for the customer to read their own, the present system isn't broke but that never sees to stop anyone fixing the unbroken.

I suspect there's more to all this than meets the eye and the real downsides will rear their ugly heads when its too late, no thanks.

If your thoughts are like that then the burglar would just track you with your mobile phone and know when you are out so won't need to use your smart meter.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 07:24
Water Rates or meter - Armitage Shanks {p}

I am told that a smart meter will help me to monitor and control my use of energy! I can do this for myself, I turn things on when I want them and off when I don't and I do not want to know how much I am using. If I need it I will use it and pay the resulting bill.

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Mon 2 Mar 2015 12:46
Water Rates or meter - alan1302

I am told that a smart meter will help me to monitor and control my use of energy! I can do this for myself, I turn things on when I want them and off when I don't and I do not want to know how much I am using. If I need it I will use it and pay the resulting bill.

You don't have to use it for anything if you don't want to.

The main reason for the energy companies putting them in is the sending of usage straight to them rather than relying on an estimated reading or sending someone out to check the meter.

I really don't understand why people would not want one as it means you pay for what you have used rather than a guess.

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Tue 24 Feb 2015 12:53
Water Rates or meter - Andrew-T

Is it likely that I would benefit changing to a meter ? I think so but have a suspicion of anything which appears to be pushed by a big organisation. Any experiences/views ?

I think you will probably gain - we certainly did when a meter was fitted, especially if you tend to prefer showers to baths. But I understand that in Scotland suppliers are not keen to fit meters as they always have a glut of water. Probably in the south of England the opposite applies.

There is a possible dodge though. If you apply for a meter and the examining crew find that one cannot be fitted (for whatever reason) you can ask to go on a preferential tariff (can't remember its name, but they are required to do this, unless the rules have changed in the last 10 years).

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Tue 24 Feb 2015 23:12
Water Rates or meter - scot22

Thanks everyone for sharing your views. It seems like many things tit is not possible to be sure - that many variables.

I distrust commercial organisations, but neither do I want to pay them more than necessary.

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Fri 27 Feb 2015 00:05
Water Rates or meter - focussed

My last house in the UK had a water meter from day one, built in 1989, Anglia Water was the supplier. It was in a meter pit at the end of the drive under a round 6 inch diameter plastic cover. The actual meter was about 18 inches down in the pit under a polystyrene block to stop freezing. The problem was that the pit gradually filled up with rainwater meaning that reading the meter was difficult/impossible. Ok-get small hand pump and get rid of the water.

Ah-the clear plastic dial cover of the meter has condensation inside it making reading it impossible even with high-power torch looking down the hole.

Gave up and phoned AW and said you come round and read it 'cos I can't

Oh no they said-we'll just send you an estimated bill.

And the point of having a meter is........?

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Fri 27 Feb 2015 10:35
Water Rates or meter - daveyjp

General rule used to be if you had more bedrooms than people living in a property a meter should be cheaper.

There is one downside - if you have a small leak it can waste a lot of water and you won't know until your meter is read.

My parents have just had this, but fair play it was the water company who highlighted it. Their water useage had doubled in one quarter and the water company called them.

The culprit, as it is in the majority of cases, was a slight leak on a centre flush toilet mechanism. There was a constant trickle of water down the back of the toilet pan, but so slow it couldn't be seen.

The water company didn't charge for the extra use, but my parents now keep an eye on the problem and read their meter every couple of weeks.

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Fri 27 Feb 2015 23:27
Water Rates or meter - Andrew-T

There is one downside - if you have a small leak it can waste a lot of water and you won't know until your meter is read.

The water company didn't charge for the extra use, but my parents now keep an eye on the problem and read their meter every couple of weeks.

Exactly. Unless the meter has been placed very inconveniently, there is nothing to stop you reading it regularly. I now read all my meters every Saturday - takes a couple of minutes. I started about 3 years ago, originally to monitor output from solar panels.

I now realise better how negligible a proportion cooking is of our overall gas consumption, and when my c-h boiler developed an internal leak last Christmas it showed that water use rose by 50%.

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 14:40
Water Rates or meter - concrete

I have had both situations. Meter is definitely the way to go for a 'normal' family with 'normal' usage. I went from paying over £40 per month to £26 when I had a meter installed. It was installed free and read bi-annually unless I e mailed a reading to them.

At the time there were 4 adults at home, me, swmbo, daughter and my mother. With three shower rooms and toilets and washing etc I thought we did very well. Some education was required, don't run the tap when brushing teeth etc. Installed water butts for plant watering, but the wife did occasionally water the garden with the hose pipe. So I think it worth trying. We got 12 months to decide, after which we kept the meter or went back to standard rate charges.

At our new house the utility company say they cannot install a meter because we share a main with 2 neighbours. That is because they wish to install the meter by the stop-cock in the road. I am now insisting they install a meter within our property, immediately after our own stop-cock. We currently pay £48 per month and I think that should drop to about £25 with only three of in the house. No brainer really for £276 per annum.

Cheers

Concrete

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Wed 4 Mar 2015 18:23
Water Rates or meter - scot22

Thanks - certainly seems worth a no risk trial.

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Tue 21 Apr 2015 13:06
Water Rates or meter - Engineer Andy

You can go to U-Switch and input your usage details (not the amount of water, how often you use appliances, use a bath/shower, run the tap for brushing teeth, use a garden hose/sprinkler/power washer for your car etc and for how long) and the size/number/type of people who live in your home.

I ran this to see whether I could qualify for a reduction in my bill if I went over to the Anglian Water 'SoLo' tarriff, which I'm currently on for my waste water (weirdly enough, they only provide that service in my area - Affinity [Three Valleys of old] provide the water), even on a fully metered supply - about a 25% reduction in my bill. A shame that the scheme is supposedly being scrapped in a couple of years.

IMO almost certainly any couple living in a 3 bed home or above will save if you go over to a meter - 2 bed house (a flat - certainly), still probably, but it depends on whether you wash your car and use a garen hose/sprinkler often and have baths rather than showers. Its amazing how much water they use.

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Fri 6 Mar 2015 18:05
Water Rates or meter - Andrew-T

At our new house the utility company say they cannot install a meter because we share a main with 2 neighbours. That is because they wish to install the meter by the stop-cock in the road.

Concrete, when they refused your meter did they offer you an AVC (assessed volume charge, I think) preferential tariff for showing willing?

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Mon 9 Mar 2015 17:44
Water Rates or meter - concrete

At our new house the utility company say they cannot install a meter because we share a main with 2 neighbours. That is because they wish to install the meter by the stop-cock in the road.

Concrete, when they refused your meter did they offer you an AVC (assessed volume charge, I think) preferential tariff for showing willing?

Hello Andrew, sorry for the delay to reply. They did reduce our monthly charge for a couple of months and I recall swmbo saying something about an assessed charge because of low occupancy of our property. I have an inspector coming out in a few weeks time to inspect again and I will impress upon him that Morthumbrian Water had no problem with a meter inside the property and they should do the same. Just received our latest yearly water charge and it is £215 for water from South East Water so that means it will be the same charge from Southern Water for the sewage charge so our monthly payments will be £43.00p. The meter will reduce that drastically.

Cheers Concrete

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Mon 4 May 2015 11:48
Water Rates or meter - JohnD

I'm probably too late to influence your decision but I've chosen to be on a meter for the past year and it has reduced my water bill considerably. However I live in a largish house which is in band F, consequently my water bill was around £450 per year. My girls have moved away to their own properties and my wife is no longer alive, so I'm on my own. I also caravan abroad during the winter months so my water usage is low, reducing my bills by a large amount. One of my daughters has been considering a meter, but her house is in band D and she has two children so I've warned her that her saving might not be all that much - and with the added worry of water conservation.

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