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Water company says we're using too much water

178 replies

AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings · 08/09/2020 14:44

And I can't work out why/how to use less.

Our water usage went up at the start of lockdown- not surprising as there was now x3 of us at home, it was summer and we were potty training a toddler.

Now our water company are saying we're using too much (we've got a water meter btw and pay for what we use) and sent someone round to talk to us about water conservation.

Thing is… We're quite water conservation conscious in general. Use eco setting on dishwasher, have a wet-room type shower so save shower and bath water in buckets for flushing toilets and watering plants (used the hose maybe 10 times in total this year and that includes filling small paddling pool - water that was also reused).

I even reuse pasta and veg water for watering plants.

Dh and I shower with our toddler so we're not having x3 showers per day or anything. And about 50% of that water is saved in buckets - including the cold water run off at the start.

I use the washing machine about x5 a week.

We don't have a car to wash. No ponds or swimming pool.

They're checking if there's an error but are certain that there's not.

Does anyone have any idea how to save water when you're already doing all the obvious things?

OP posts:
AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings · 08/09/2020 15:40

Glad I posted this because I felt like I was going mad.

They've got us down as a family of two, not three (despite us asking for this to be changed and us having a note on our file when we had a newborn and everyone's water was shut off a few years ago) so we've asked if that was the problem.

I don't get why it's a problem either if we're happily using and paying for it. We don't have massive bills and they've not shot up.

It's gone up as much as you'd expect for x3 people now being at home all day - weeing, drinking water etc

We probably use less in a lot of ways because I've stopped dying and washing my hair so much now I never leave the house!

OP posts:
shamalidacdak · 08/09/2020 15:40

How weird. Why do they care how much water you use? I had a slow leak in my loo. Just drop food dye in your cistern and leave it for 30 mins. If there is dye in the bowl, you have a leak.

amymel2016 · 08/09/2020 15:41

This is SO weird! We’re on a meter and surely if you pay for what you use then it’s no problem? I wonder if they’re testing this ‘service’ in a few areas to then roll out, try and get everyone’s usage down. Where was he from?

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lughnasadh · 08/09/2020 15:41

Are you certain he was from the water company, and not a mad neighbour with too much time on his hands during lockdown? Grin

Even if the water company were on an eco drive, this guy sounds deranged, given your actual usage.

Are your bills sky high?

wowfudge · 08/09/2020 15:42

My first thought was was this person genuinely from the water company or were they casing the joint in some way? Did they invite you to have a chat with their water conservation bod or did he just turn up?

DixieFlatline · 08/09/2020 15:46

He was going to change your shower head without asking? What the actual fuck?!

Nikori · 08/09/2020 15:48

I wonder if he is on some kind of target or something. I'd just ignore his advice as it's not applicable to you.

MJMG2015 · 08/09/2020 15:48

Holy crap - if some clipboard weirding twat started asking me about how much water I put in my kettle or trying to tell me how long I can shower for in my own home, he would be one sorry idiot.

No fucking way!!

Akire · 08/09/2020 15:48

If they get in touch again say you have moved your step children in you are now a family of 10. Then your water use will be amazingly low.

AppleKatie · 08/09/2020 15:53

I would ring and ask why you were targeted for this, who else (demographic wise) they are also targeting and exactly who do they think they are. Hugely over stepping boundaries.

Oliversmumsarmy · 08/09/2020 15:54

My first thought was, are you sure he was from the water company.

The second was if he was I would make a complaint to the water company.

I think I would have shown him the door and thrown the shower timer after him.

Are you sure it isn’t a perv with a camera in the shower timer given he couldn’t get you to take the shower head.

AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings · 08/09/2020 15:54

@wowfudge

My first thought was was this person genuinely from the water company or were they casing the joint in some way? Did they invite you to have a chat with their water conservation bod or did he just turn up?
If he was a burglar then we got a free branded shower timer and almost got a free shower head from him 😂

He would have been gutted to see that we have a good alarm, there's always someone in, and we have nothing to steal.

OP posts:
Houseworkavoider · 08/09/2020 15:56

Are you 100% sure that this guy was from the water company?
The whole thing sounds bonkers!

TenCornMaidens · 08/09/2020 15:59

Haven't rtft but check you don't have a running toilet. When we fixed ours our water usage dropped massively.

mfwannabe · 08/09/2020 15:59

We had a new meter fitted (a replacement) and subsequently noticed our bills went up quite a bit. A while later they contacted us to say the meter had been fitted incorrectly and was running backwards! It took them a while (maybe a year or so) to figure it out as normally if they're fitted backwards the bill is astronomical but wasn't in our case, just higher than usual. They came and replaced the meter and our bills have gone back to normal. Have you had a new meter fitted?

c3pu · 08/09/2020 15:59

My guess is the water company are under pressure from some kind of water saving initiative, and the algorithm picked you up as an "easy win" to reduce your consumption.

PickAChew · 08/09/2020 16:02

Bugger 4 minute showers. I shower until. I'm clean!

HelenRose1111 · 08/09/2020 16:03

Careful, are in a semi- detached property?
My mum is, and she had a water meter installed 10 years ago. She asked me to check her meter as her bills had gone up to £60 a month (!) single pensioner, one loo, one or two loads of washing a week, water butts for garden watering....
After a LOT of wrangling they admitted (after digging up her pipework) that her ex-council house pipework was supplying BOTH semis on her meter and she was paying for BOTH (and next door were somehow paying their bill too!)
Cheeky buggers. They offered her a refund - I rang them & said errr and £200 compensation please, my poor mum had been so stressed about not flushing the loo too often as she couldn't afford the £60/month!
It's now about £17 a month....

WhereYouLeftIt · 08/09/2020 16:03

I'm another who doesn't think this person was from your water company. I'd be ringing them and asking about whether they did 'home visits' like this, because it sounds beyond weird!

Our bills skyrocketed a few years back due to a leak and the only 'visit' was to the back garden to dig it up and fix it.

LadyOfTheImprovisedBath · 08/09/2020 16:03

@c3pu

My guess is the water company are under pressure from some kind of water saving initiative, and the algorithm picked you up as an "easy win" to reduce your consumption.
I'd still check the toilet and turning everything off thing stuff - but I suspect this.
Daisydoesnt · 08/09/2020 16:06

OP I’m sat here open mouthed at the cheeky fecker trying to change the shower head. That is so rude, arrogant, words fail me!

How much IS your water bill a month? You sound really careful to me

goingtobedalone · 08/09/2020 16:09

This is possibly the strangest thread I've seen here. Is this in the UK?
I can't believe someone is telling you how long you should be showering or filling the kettle to the top! Why does that concern the water company as long as you pay your bills.
Do you live in a country where water shortage is a big issue?
I would probably just have asked him to leave..Hmm

Zaphodsotherhead · 08/09/2020 16:11

This all sounds very odd.

I recently moved out of a big old property in which I'd had a water meter fitted. The house was permanently damp, to the extent that some carpets were always wet.

After I moved out, the bloke who bought it told me they've found a water leak outside the property (ie outwith my meter, so I wasn't charged) that's apparently been pouring water into the ground for about fifty years (hence the damp).

But they never bothered to investigate it. There was me, with my meter, saving water for all I was worth to help the planet, and meanwhile my water main is haemorrhaging water into my foundations and carpets!

TenShortStories · 08/09/2020 16:16

Is it possible that you and a neighbour have somehow ended up on one combined meter, and only you get the bill?

This happened with me, except it was for gas rather than water (Victorian house converted to flats so you can see how it might happen, less so if you're a detached house!).

ProfessorSlocombe · 08/09/2020 16:18

Sounds to me like the water company have sold their data to some sort of third party company that are looking to flog "water saving" devices. (Mysteriously you can't get smart meters for water Smile)

The people that work for these outfits have become ninjas at convincing you they are from your "water company" when what they are really saying is "we are working with your water company", relying on the householders not challenging them.

Of course if water companies wanted to save water, they could fix tehir leaking pipes. But that costs money. Much better to flog data to cowboys and pay a nice dividend instead.

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