Compulsory water meter being installed

[A580Hojas]

This is happening all across my borough. A London borough that has countless leaks and burst water mains all the time .

Anyway, what are your top water saving tips? I wonder if we will have higher or lower water bills after it's installed. We are a family of 3 adults (sometimes 4 when dd is home from University) who shower rather than bath. I never use the washing machine or dishwasher unless there's a full load.

But I do water my garden pots (quite a lot of them) in summer and we jetwash our patio a couple of times a year.

I was thinking today as I was washing my hands and waiting for the cold water to run hot (combi boiler) that I might have to get used to washing my hands/face in cold water. What else?

Why would you need to use cold water?

What do you pay now? I've always found a meter to cheaper personally, but then we are quite water frugal anyway

I’m in the same position. Compulsory water meters. I’m keen on a bath but am going to give that up, sadly. Or at least reduce its use massively. There are four adults at home. We have a small garden, and pots, which we do water. That will have to be reduced.

Get a water butt so you can water your plants free.
Get a timer so everyone has 4 min showers.

We moved from an unmetered house to a metered house and were really shocked to see how much more we pay. I also feel the water has to run for ages before it gets hot, there is a preheat setting on the boiler but that would push our fuel use higher! We don’t flush the toilet after every wee, don’t have baths, don’t use a hose, jet wash or water plants or anything. We can use any less!

When I lived in Australia the council gave everyone in our suburb who had a tree growing outside their house on the verge a bucket to put in the shower to collect water which you then used to water the tree.

Agree re Waterbutt and I also water plants with bath water in summer - good exercise too 🤣

Surely a water butt would take ages to fill. And there really isn’t much space.

@SavoyCabbage

When I lived in Australia the council gave everyone in our suburb who had a tree growing outside their house on the verge a bucket to put in the shower to collect water which you then used to water the tree.

I toured the MCG a few years ago and I was blown away by the water plant they had for collecting and using rain water

Compulsory? I didn't think they could do that.

You have a year before they start charging you the metered rate
You can compare usage and costs during this time and can switch to metered billing sooner if you want

Fill your waterbutt using a downpipe from the guttering. Takes a week of rain max!

Are there more people in your house than bedrooms?

Look at water use on your washing machine.

This happened in our town about 4 years ago. Our bills went down.

Mine went down loads too

It is disgusting the water companies make the consumers pay for their leaks. If they fixed all that, surely there would be enough treated water for everyone.
Our local water company tried to install a water meter when we moved in. After some research we found as we are not in a water stressed area, which Thames Water is a water stressed area, and they were trying to say it was the law for everyone to have these meters fitted.
We are careful with water and use water butts for the garden and don't run the tap when brushing teeth. We also have glass bottles in the fridge for cold water so don't run the tap for that. I do, however, have a longer than4 min shower. I have long hair and can't imagine how I'd do it all within 4 mins.

Run the tap into a bowl while you're waiting for the warm water and use that to water plants

@Teastheword

Compulsory? I didn't think they could do that.

Yes, compulsory if you live in a high-stress area for water. Water meter was installed late last year. There’s no choice. But you do have a year’s grace, as pp said.

Very expensive water here, so...

We have four water butts for garden plants. and also use it to wash the car. (Which is done about twice a year!) A water butt from the main roof fills in a rainy day.
Very short showers and any bath is no more then a couple of inches deep.
Collect the run off (when you are waiting for the water to run hot) in a bucket and use to to flush the loo. And here's no need to flush the loo every time.
Reduce your jet washing. Once every couple of years does us.

Fill your waterbutt using a downpipe from the guttering. Takes a week of rain max!
I don’t have any downpipes at the back where the garden is. There’s one at the front, though, but no space for a water butt, I think.

Surely you only pay for what you use in your property? Not for what leaks on the street?

You used to be able to get a bath drainer pipe and hook that up to your water butt to fill it

We were compulsorily metered about 5 years ago. Our bills nearly doubled (4 people in a 3 bed house). However that was from £27 to £48 so we had been getting it pretty cheaply before. The main things we have changed are less baths / more showers and using eco settings on WM and DW.

www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/
Worth seeing if you are covered for the water saving free devices on offer

I wonder how that'll work in properties like where I live — every so often they send stuff to encourage us to get a meter, but the one time we said yes, they said "oops sorry you can't have one, your supply comes from next door".

I have just begged for a water meter for our new house - in our last house our bill was 35 pounds a month, the new one they want 77! 2 adults and 1 child can't possibly use nearly 80 quids worth of water a month

@indignatio

https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/ Worth seeing if you are covered for the water saving free devices on offer

Just tried that but my area isn’t covered, which seem insane as water metering is compulsory here.

Don't leave water running whilst brushing teeth, any dripping taps fix straight away, take regular meter readings (burst pipes can leak for weeks before showing at ground level), bath water to water plants .