Water bill increase - what do you pay?

[ImbarbaraB]

I’ve just had a letter through from the water company saying our monthly payment is increasing to £45 per month from next month

This is for 2 adults and 2 young children.

Does this seem like a lot?

Before they forced us to be metered we were unmetered and paid £28 a month

Metered, £65 per month.

It was around £20 per month when we moved here with one DC 13 years ago, but in that time we have had 3 more children and DD2 has recently acquired a very long shower habit! So there are three of us showering daily, 2 sharing a bath at least once ever other day and one more washing infrequently and very reluctantly. So I don't feel I can complain too much, as we should be paying for what we use (but I have turned into the tap police).

£65 a month, 2 adults & 3 dc - on a water meter in Cornwall. Ours was about £80 before having a meter installed.

OP Where are you in the country? Funnily enough I have just had the exact same letter! Putting it up to the same amount...

@bumpdownthestairs

OP Where are you in the country? Funnily enough I have just had the exact same letter! Putting it up to the same amount...

Hertfordshire- affinity water

We pay £88 a month South West. On a meter 2adults. Gone up £30 a month this year. Im not sure why. It's on my list of things to deal with

Metered, £36 p.c.m. Your bill is fairly average, OP. As other posters have said, be glad you (presumably) don't live in the SW, where it rains all the time and water bills are sky-high!

Ours is £40 something a month of unmetered. Put area is switching to compulsory meters though so I dread to think what ours will go up to. Two adults two teens and 10 year old with daily baths, watering garden etc.

Another one here in the SW £63 a month metered. 2 adults and 14yr old Dd.

We got a shitty letter too. £40 gone up to £60, 2 adults and a toddler.

I pay £35 a month for 1 adult and a 7 year old in a 2 bed flat in Wales.

Essex & Suffolk Water £110 a year - no meter (and no sewage). How come you had to have a Meter OP?

NE England, family of 5, unmetered, £31 per month. I'm surprised at the variations!

Nothing, as on a private spring supply and septic tank.

But... upkeep of the system usually costs anywhere between £500-£1,000 a year - for replacement filters, UV tubes, de-acidification media, pumps, pressure switches, problems caused by tree roots, frost or other things necessitating plumber visits!

£21 a month, 2 adults and 1 child (bath/shower, two toilets and a dishwasher.)

We do have a water meter but it shares its supply with the next door neighbour, so they switched me to unmetered after being charged about £90 a month when I first moved in (I was a single person at this point living by myself so knew something wasn't right). Took them a few months to sort it out though.

@MrsMoastyToasty

The thing with paying for your metered water by direct debit is that your water company is making a prediction about what your next meter reading will be based on past meter reading history . It will also take into consideration any underpayment on the last bill. Of course any dripping tap, leaky washing machine or dishwasher, or cistern overflowing will clock up on your meter.

Between £35 and £75 a month depending on whether we've been underpaying or overpaying Thames Water for the previous couple of years and their antiquated billing system has caught up or not. We never seem to be able to pay for just the water we've actually used.

£325 per annum, family of 4.

£38 but we have ours capped.

£40 a month, 3 bed house with 2 adults living here. Would probably actually be less on a meter but we’re unable to have one due to some weird shared supply arrangement on our street.

There's absolutely no point in comparing water costs.

If you're not on a meter you can't do anything about your rateable value

If you are on a meter you can't change who you get your water from and unless you're stupidly wasting it e.g. filling swimming pools or have a leak you can't really change your consumption much

If you've recently changed to a meter ask to change back otherwise it costs what it costs unfortunately.

Our water costs went up massively when they insisted we move to a meter (south west bloody water though.) I contacted them to have it removed but they refused.

What did make a massive difference to us as a family of 4 with 2 young DC was having a "no flush after wees" policy. Appreciate that might not be for everyone but it saved us about £20 a month.

£100 per month, metered, 3 adults and 1 15 year old - south west!

£13 a month, unmetered. We only pay for water though, not waste water.

@bloodywhitecat

£13 a month, unmetered. We only pay for water though, not waste water.

Meant to say, 2 adults and currently 2 babies (we foster so the ages and numbers of children here can vary).

We’re with South Staffs Water and have a water meter. We’re a family of four adults, the showers are used five or six times per day, the dishwasher is on daily and the washing machine is used perhaps four or five times per week. There are three cars regularly washed and in the Summer we water the gardens daily.
We pay around £450 per annum.

£98 a month for 10 months. Can't have a meter fitted