Water meters

Does anybody have a water meter in their house, if so how much does it cost on a monthly basis?

Obviously not all households use the same amount and costs will differ, I just want to know if it works out a lot more expensive than the rates system.

 

Hi Pip, I have a water meter, it was fitted before i moved into the house so I cant compare before and after costs. check this link for info.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cut-water-bills

basically, if you have more bedrooms than people in the house, a meter will probably save you money.
I live in a 3 bedroom house and when i moved here there was 2 of us. The local water company worked out that we'd need to pay �£23 per month which left us after a year slightly in credit. since then it has become a single person household. I contacted the water company and they said obviously i'd use less water so i now pay �£20. my bill came yesterday and I have used 6m2 less water over the last 3 months than the same time last year and taking into account the increased cost of the water, it seems that �£20 per month is about right.

hope thats of help? i'm sure if you contaced your local water company they'd give you some advise, but be aware, I think its a 1 way decision,once the meter is in, its in for good! EDIT having just re-read the link, it says you do have a set time scale that you can revert back to an unmetered household.

 

We were paying �£38 per month water bill after a year we decided to change it to a metered bill. I find the between the two quite a big drop in payments. Now I pay �£22 per month. I do have a 3 bed. semi and there is only the two of us but I do have a very large garden and allotment that borders my garden. the water I use when my water butts are empty is phenominal. it hasnt' made any difference to my bill which has surprised us.
They told us if any time we want to change back to how it was before we can do so.

My brother pays �£52 per month for their bungalow and now they are changing to a water meter.

 

We`ve had a water metre installed in May , our yearly bill was �£695 for a 3 bedroom house , just two of us here at the moment . We have been told that it works out at around �£13 per person per month . We`ll see how it goe`s , we have 12 mths if we decide to switch back . I think the rates are very high in this part of the country

 

That's interesting, I've never investigated a water meter having thought I'm better off but I'm on my own in a 2 bed terrace with a pot plant patio and small lawn. Once my lawn is turned into as proper garden I was going to install a good sized water butt anyway.

I'll now be looking at my council tax bill and that link.

TO

 

Water meters seem to cost less BUT being cynical - I wonder if once most people are on meters the costs will rocket and nothing we can do about it.

Any body got any thoughts on this?

 

in our area we have the choice of switching back so I dont see a problem. So far its working for us.

 

Resurrecting an old thread, but I was at a friends house yesterday and they have put a meter which was bought from E bay, on the tap end of their hosepipe.
Its just a clip in job nothing fancy.
They are now in the process of trying to get Mid Kent water to accept the reading from it as water not returned to the sewerage system, which means the water would be roughly half price.

The problem they are having at the moment is that our water is supplied by Mid Kent Water but the sewerage is Southern Water and the companies dont appear to like talking to one another.
We used to get separate bills from each company but after years of that they have finally managed to agree to billing just the once for both services.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has tried this, if you can get it to work it could save a large chunk of the sewerage side of the water bill each year.

 

I do have an external water meter for measuring what I use in the garden and yes it does save on the sewerage part of the bill. I got the meter fitted via local plumber who sent the details to South West Water; it was a bit of a battle to get them to understand that I had two water meters that needed reading, but after about 9 months the penny dropped and it's been fine since.
No experience of the type of meter you mention though.

 

It sounds useful if you're already on a meter but I am not and pay a standard amount however much water I use.

 

When I tried to do it a few years ago I was informed something similar to your set up Nigel but if this set up works it could be a lot simpler, and easier to install.

 

Our water and sewage are part of our Council Tax so no matter how much use you make of it, it costs the same.

 

I assume you mean the price of water is based on the rateable value of your house.
I think that was how it worked here before the meters were installed.

@Loofah , yes I get a discount for soakaways.

 

Dear God! If anyone did something like that here, it would be classed as a revolution! Damned good idea, though! I've added it to my list of reforms of the French system