Cheaper Water Bills next year

That's what I have been doing for the past hour or so ...

1) Waste water supply (er) - so, water OUT
+
2) Water supply (er) - so, water IN

So, two different companies doing two separate jobs = two bills

This becomes interesting because, at a previous house, we only had *one* bill (water in + water out) and it only cost the equivalent of (drum roll please) the water *out* bill now!

In the meantime, I've had a chat with Mr "M" and it seems: if we only flush our "sewage" once per day (which would mean twice as there are two toilets), we are paying the same price for "waste water" as our neighbours (which consist of 9 people: 2 adults, 7 children). The waste water charge is an annual fixed charge; the "meter" charge is for water *in* - think I've got that right.

Reading further: if a household has more than 2 children (e.g. our neighbours, who have 7) then their bills are capped (not sure at what level though).

More reading: the surface water drainage charge applies to everyone whose water from their roof goes into the main drains. However, a rebate can be given is you have a soak-away (but, there is no discount/refund *if* you harness that roof water in the form of water butts )

The argument for waste water being more expensive than supplied water is: it costs to process it. But, to me, that argument is flawed. Surely, the water coming in *is* the processed water and therefore should cost more (post processing)? And it is the water coming *in* which is metered - oh! Yes! and *that* is the only water I have any control over!! I can only determine my usage of water in because my water out is a fixed charge whether I sent the poo of 2 people or 9 people down the drain or even if I harness it through my water butts Seems a bit upside down to me
If I send less "waste" down the pipes, I should pay less
If I send less "roof" water down the pipes, I should pay less.
If I *use* more fresh water ... then, fair enough, I pay for the privilege of it being "processed". But no, that doesn't appear to be how the water companies behave.

Plus, when people are being advised if they would benefit from having metered water, the argument was: if you have more bedrooms than people, you will benefit from having a meter. What they do not tell you is: if you have more than 2 children, your bills are capped Which makes the rooms vs persons argument a little bit flawed/misleading!

I'll have to look into it further (when I feel more "detached" from the subject matter ).

Hmm, thinking about it ... and following from another thread .... maybe savings could be make if .... I bathe in milk?

 

Jon
My water cubic metre charge is
Water in £1.65
Waste water out £1.35
Total £3
Is your water in + waste water out only £1.85 total ?

I had a quick look earlier at other water company charges. Say Severn and Trent the cheapest in your table. Its very difficult to work out what's what to compare them If anyone has spare few hours it would be an interesting to compare about 4 water companies .
I think their charges are plucked from the air , as the two company comparison you did shows no common charging theme.
Ring up to complain "yes sir/madam , you don't like our water charges ? Well nothing much you can do is there. Put the phone down and have a good night bye ! "

 

The cap re children applies if you have more than 2 children
There are other reasons people may be eligible for a cap on their water charges (e.g certain illnesses), but you would need to check out your particular company's website for more information/eligibility.

 

Ofwat regulate the charges companies set.

The reasons given why bills vary across companies are:

"Bills vary between the companies because the cost of providing water
and sewerage services in different parts of the country varies. There
are a number of reasons for this, including:

• the availability of water in the company’s area and how easy it is to take it out of the environment (‘abstraction’);
• the level of pumping and treatment required;
• how easy it is to dispose of wastewater in the local environment; and population density."

​

Source: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/future/customers/metering/affordability/prs_inf_afford.pdf

​

 

I think Ofwat need a sanity check ,in my case ! The North West is not noted for its arid desert like climate We have the Lake District , Snowdonia , The Pennines and the Peak District all within a 70 mile radius . I think Ofwat are going to get a letter from Mr Angry of Appley Bridge
Seems like all the other GC'ers are happy with their water charges , or probably they can't work out the rather complicated water billing ! It's not that easy to interpret a water bill.

 

We had a meter fitted about 3 years ago, it halfed our bill, but we've noticed it's been slowly creeping up. And we're not using anymore than what we did.
I have 4 x 200 ltr water butts for watering the garden they are never empty has it rains a lot here in the north west.
Again it Utility companys ripping off customers
Rant over

 

Looking at their website a household would need to fit 2 of their criteria
1) Be in receipt of certain state benefits
PLUS
2) Either have 3 or more children
Or (a member of the household) have a certain medical condition
It didn't read to me that it needs one of the children to have a medical condition
One of the specified state benefits is Pension Credit and not many people with 3 (or more) dependent children would get that.

 

Got home from work tonight and it appears they fitted a water meter today.
Not sure when I start paying for metered water, no info provided.

Just checked my latest bill and I'm paid up till 31s March, or so I think, but as I say no real info, just a silly pamphlet telling me to put something in my toilet cistern to stop it using too much water.

Got a feeling there is a leak somewhere as well, I checked the meter and it said 55 liters had passed it before I got home.

So I'm not looking forward to them digging up the garden to find it, if its anything like the burrowing around that goes on out in the streets, the garden will probably look like the Somme.

 

Turn your taps off when you leave home in future

 

Talk of the Devil ... got a water bill today the first metered one we have had, it's the waste water one and guess what ...













.... it's gone DOWN!!!! Significantly!

But, to be fair, it was a fixed rate at our previous house, plus the two lads are away at Uni for much of the year so .... we shall see how this pans out.

 

Thanks JWK - I looked at that on today's bill - it represents 92.5% of the meter reading