How does a meter effect your water rates?

Hi all. Just curious if any of you have switched from just regular water rates to a meter (either through having one put in or moving)? We recently moved into a new house and the water company announced that they're changing all of the houses in the village to meters by installing them whenever there's a change of occupancy. They sent out a leaflet about how much it would cost depending on useage, but it's hard to know what category we fall into. I've broken bad habits (that for environmental reasons I should have never lapsed into, but there you go) like brushing teeth with the tap open. But I tend to take quite long showers (dh takes the occaisional bath and quite quick showers), I run the dishwasher about every other day, I do laundry once a week - about four loads. I fitted a watering thing on the hose so that when I water the plants I only use what I need for each plant. But I do find that things like doing the washing up probably takes a lot of water (since unlike my British dh I do rinse!) but I don't like sticking wine glasses, knives and heavily soiled pots in the dishwasher.

So I guess actually I have two questions: do bills soar when you move to a water meter and what do people do to reduce water consumption?

Cheers, guys.

Hey Anne,
I hope you're enjoying your new place.  We had a water meter put in but I'm afraid I haven't looked closely at the cost differences.  I don't think the cost has changed greatly, but I would guess that since there's only 2 of you with no kids, you're less likely to be using, for example, a family's worth of water in a 2 bedroom flat (it was 2 bedroom yeah?).  I think the standard rates they set for those without meters are for an average family in the type of house you're in.

I would say, the one thing to look out for, much like with gas and electric is the actual meter reading.  When they send you an estimated bill, call them up with the actuate reading if it's lower.  They always estimate really high which can lead them to upping your direct debit amount.

We'll have to get together sometime soon.  Tell Jamie I've made it out to Wycombe Heights a few times this Summer.

Matt

I would say, the one thing to look out for, much like with gas and electric is the actual meter reading.  When they send you an estimated bill, call them up with the actuate reading if it's lower.  They always estimate really high which can lead them to upping your direct debit amount.

Yes -- please do this!  Last week we got an estimated gas bill...for £210!    We went through to figure out what we'd actually used, and we only owed £31. 

Crikey, Lola!!! That's a CRAZY difference!!!!!!!!! I'll definitely tell Jamie to start keeping an eye on that - he deals with most of the bills (and then just moans to me about how high they are! LOL.) Thanks guys!

Matt, let's try to plan something in mid or late July - there's a new expat family moving over soon who are looking for new friends in the Beaconsfield area so I thought maybe a little BBQ would be nice!

I got an estimated electric bill for £170 last week for the previous 2 months.  I am single and live by myself, am at work M-F btw 8am and 7pm and was out of the country for 2 of those 8 weeks.  I gave them my actual reading and I am hoping the real balance is much lower. 

bvamin

If I remember correctly,when water meters were first introduced on the Isle of Wight,people soon discovered that they were being charged for the water as it came in and as it left,many started emptying their baths through the window,throwing washing up water on the garden etc.

Dave

If I remember correctly,when water meters were first introduced on the Isle of Wight,people soon discovered that they were being charged for the water as it came in and as it left,many started emptying their baths through the window,throwing washing up water on the garden etc.

Dave

That is oh so my mother in law! And she was living on the Isle of Wight!

We went from not having a water meter in our old house to having one now.  Because for most fo the year, there are just the two of us, it's really cut down on our water bill.  That's even with having an american washing machine and running it 2 or 3 times a week!

I know my Grandparents used to do the same with the dirty water!   Collect it in a bucket and take it outside!!  Think they said it used to help the vegtables grow.   

It's easy to work out the breakeven point if you can get the exact metered rates from your supplier.

Anglian Water, for example, charges as follows:

Supply  £24.00 per year plus £1.0243 per cubic meter
Sewer  £32.00 per year plus £1.1548 per cubic meter.

In plain English, a cubic meter is equivalent to approx. 264 US gallons or 220 Imperial gallons.

Compared with the unmetered charges of £148.10 for supply and £145.46 for sewer, that gives a breakeven point of about 65 Imp. or 78 US gallons per day.  If average usage is below that, then metered works out cheaper.

If I remember correctly,when water meters were first introduced on the Isle of Wight,people soon discovered that they were being charged for the water as it came in and as it left,many started emptying their baths through the window,throwing washing up water on the garden etc.

They were wasting their time.   The bill does contain both supply and sewer portions, but they are both based on the amount metered on the supply side.  Measuring the flow on the sewer line is just not practical.    Houses with their own septic tanks escape the sewer portion of the charge, of course.

It's also worth mentioning that many utilities make a separate charge for surface-water drainage.  Anglian Water, for example, charges an additional £30 per year on both metered and unmetered bills. 

This amount is added automatically as a default, but if you can demonstrate that you have no surface-water draining into the sewer you can have this charge removed.