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?

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

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".

You don't get one, some houses in our street are like that.

We are a family of 5 and our water bill is 60 a month. We never have baths but obviously all shower once a day and we do generate a fair amount of washing. According to the little grid on the bottom of the bill, we aren’t considered high users!

@daisypond you can get slimline ones

www.diy.com/departments/ward-100l-slimline-water-butt/679230_BQ.prd

Thanks @EventuallyDelighted — are the rest of the street jealous of those people? 😂

Our water bills seem pretty high compared to what I think we might pay if we were metered… we're a low-usage household compared to the theoretical average family that the water company thinks might live here and appears to base the bill on.

Family of 5. Our water bills went down when we moved to a house with a water meter.

We have a water butt in the garden to collect rainwater for watering plants. It doesn't completely remove the need for the hosepipe but it saves quite a bit.

My water bill doubled when we moved to a metered house. 2 x small kids so lots of washing

Family of three here.

My water bill halved after the water meter was installed.

[quote Dotdotdotdashdashdashdotdotdot]@daisypond you can get slimline ones

www.diy.com/departments/ward-100l-slimline-water-butt/679230_BQ.prd[/quote]
Thanks. I’ll have a closer look, but on first look I still don’t think there’s enough space.

OP I’m with Thames water. We opted to go to a water meter well over 20 years ago when our eldest was a baby. DD has now left home so we are three adults. Three showers daily (DH and I often have a second shower following exercise or garden work). Dishwasher (slimline) on at least once a day, ditto the washing machine. Irrigation system in the garden. (We use the water butt for topping up the pond). A fish tank that has regular water changes. Jest wash the patio and the car when needed. ALWAYS flush the toilet. Our water bill is LESS than my neighbour who still pays on rateable value and actually has a smaller house.

We used to pay water in with rent here. Last year were switched to Thames Water and bill came in at 50 per month. I asked for a meter survey but as we live in an upstairs conversion they would have to fit it in one of my very few kitchen cupboards and lose space.
My bill has just gone down to 48 per month for 1 person.

They are going to be compulsory for everyone soon.

OP, you’ll currently be billed on the size of your property. As long as you don’t have a leaky loo or horrifically long showers you won’t notice much of a difference. You may even save money.

It works out something like 0.01p per litre of water used.

Get a water butt, as you get a bill reduction for that and put a brick in your toilet cistern to deduct water usage (if it’s an old cistern, modern ones tend to be quite water efficient.).

I had someone round once from the water company to see about a meter, one can’t be fitted in my property due to location of the stopcock(behind the toilet in a tight corner) can’t see how they will get around that so guessing won’t be compulsory for me as they can’t fit it.

I think it’s scandalous how people pay vastly different amounts tbh-I live in a 1st floor flat, I pay £45pcm, my downstairs neighbour with the same amount of rooms pays £38?! Not sure how they work that out!!

Of course it’s going to cost you more. Do you think they’d be compulsory if they didn’t mean more profits for the water companies?

We had a compulsory water meter a couple of years ago. Our bills went down, despite being home for lockdown, having a large paddling pool, small children braking long showers and DH becoming obsessed with the lawn (a lot of sprinkler use).

@daisypond

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

Our water butt is admittedly slimline but, even from the guttering in one side of the garage, it takes just one good rain storm to completely fill it. Even last summer, it was only empty for 2-3 weeks.

@makingmiracles

I had someone round once from the water company to see about a meter, one can’t be fitted in my property due to location of the stopcock(behind the toilet in a tight corner) can’t see how they will get around that so guessing won’t be compulsory for me as they can’t fit it.

I think it’s scandalous how people pay vastly different amounts tbh-I live in a 1st floor flat, I pay £45pcm, my downstairs neighbour with the same amount of rooms pays £38?! Not sure how they work that out!!

It's linked to the old rateable value.

Repair dripping taps promptly
Repair leaking washing machine/dishwashers promptly
Replace ballcocks if your toilet overflow starts running.
Repair leaking garden taps.
Keep an eye out for damp patches between the meter and the house as its often a sign of a leak.
Take your own meter readings every month to get an idea of usage. Water companies are only required to take a reading every six months.
Water your plants at dusk. The plants will retain more water as its not lost to evaporation.

Use a water butt
Use grey water (eg dirty dish water) to water plants.
Let your lawn grow longer between cuts. It encourages the roots to grow longer too and they'll seek out ground water.
See if you are eligible for a non return to sewer allowance or surface water drainage allowance.

I’ve taken to making a decent size thermos flask of hot water when I’m making my first brew in the morning. The thermos goes in the bathroom for face washing / essentials that morning and night. Saves waiting for water to run hot.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

Thanks *@EventuallyDelighted* — are the rest of the street jealous of those people? 😂

Our water bills seem pretty high compared to what I think we might pay if we were metered… we're a low-usage household compared to the theoretical average family that the water company thinks might live here and appears to base the bill on.

I am a bit when they have their sprinkler on for hours on end and our lawn is parched. Especially knowing they are probably paying half what we do as ours doubled when the meter went in.

I’m not in the but we’ve had metered water for the past 60 odd years that I’m aware of! Ignorant question but how else would they know how much to charge you for the water you have used?

I just don’t see where a water butt could go. We don’t have space at the front - I’m in terraced housing that opens practically straight onto the pavement. That’s where the only downpipe is. We don’t have a garage or a downpipe at the back of the house.

We haven't got anywhere we could out a water butt on the house either, we have a downpipe at the front but we have a short drive and it would mean you couldn't get between the car and the house, it would also look really ugly against our pale rendering (no plants to camouflage it). At the back it would partially block what is already a narrow side return. We do have one on our greenhouse though and that very rarely runs dry, I use it for all the plants in there and the raised bed nearby but still use the hose for patio plant pots if needed (we don't have many, just a few with herbs in).

Eventually — you'd think the stingy buggers could squirt a bit over for you

If it's any consolation, one annoying consequence of getting water via another property for me is that the water pressure I get is very unpredictable (another is that in my case I'm fairly sure I'd pay less if metered, but as you say, yours doubled, so who knows).

@EventuallyDelighted

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.

Our bill which is unmetered via Severn Trent is huge, the dd is £104 a month. We're only a band C

@Thighdentitycrisis

We used to pay water in with rent here. Last year were switched to Thames Water and bill came in at 50 per month. I asked for a meter survey but as we live in an upstairs conversion they would have to fit it in one of my very few kitchen cupboards and lose space. My bill has just gone down to 48 per month for 1 person.

It's crazy how prices vary. I'm Northumbria Water and I pay that for a 3 bed house.