Water Bill...should I move to a meter?

[CornishTeaTime]

Never had a meter as Severn Trent Water has always been reasonable BUT its gone up hugely just had an annual bill. £770 for the year!

3 of us in the household we also have a bath no shower ... is it worth moving to a meter Im wondering?

Do you have a meter

rateable value is still based on a useable rate. The water company assume an average usage on ithe amount of bedrooms and assumed occupancy.They are also changing the rules around being able to go back onto rateable value once you have asked for a meter to be installed so worth checking.

Water butt?

I had a letter from Thames saying it was now a requirement to have a meter
fitted. Looking forward to it

Water meter, 30 per month. 3ppl mostly showers, no dishwasher but often clothes wash more than once a day.
New build of 10 years, eco every thing , so small toilet cisterns, aireated taps, 15 min washer cycle.

Thank you so much for this post.

Prompted me to check my account, and in a shock twist I'm AHEAD with United Utilities and they're sending me a cheque for £200.

Turns out the £50 a month I pay them (can't get a meter here) more than covers the 27% increase that's due anyway, so I'm still ahead.

When I tell you I have literally no money left for the next twelve days you'll know how delighted I am at this cheque even if I have to wait for it to arrive in the post which comes at best weekly.

I'm with Yorkshire Water. My bill has just gone up £120 from last year (that's about 25%). I didn't know there was any such thing as a single person discount!

A cheque! Can they not Bacs it to your account?

Apparently not, because I pay by standing order!

welcome to 2025

Why are those on rateable value bills being fleeced? And are having higher price rises? Makes no sense.

The best thing to do is phone them up again. You will want a single person assessed charge, but they will probably say that they need to come and try and fit a meter again, so let them :) if they can't fit the meter, tell them you want the single person assessed charge, of which they will probably ask for proof by the discount you get on your council bill. The single person assessed charge is in their scheme of charges, but you will need to make sure you ask them for it.

Not being fleeced as such but maybe not on the cheaper method of paying for their water

A heavy user in a lower rated property may well pay much less by sticking to ratable value

Isn’t the price increase greater for those on rateable value bills though? Why the difference?

@BurntBroccoli
do you know the name of this fitting please? Thanks

Thank you very much for this! I'm going to phone them on Monday - they should have it on record that we can't have water meters fitted to this row of cottages, and I shall ask about the single occupant discount. I really don't think I use £50 of water every month - although, of course, as costs have gone up so much it's very possible that I do now.

How did you get on?

They are going to come and 'fit a water meter'. I told them I couldn't have one, but they've decided, in their wisdom, that it must be possible. So it's going to be a wasted journey and I rather suspect we're going to go round and round, where I tell them I want a discount, they say 'oh, we'll fit a meter,' come out, can't fit a meter, I ring up and tell them I want a discount, they come out and try to fit a meter...

Let's see, shall we?

How do they fit one ordinarily?

Definitely fit a water butt or two if you garden a lot. They can be run off guttering from a shed also if better location

Move up here to Scotland, we have no separate water bills.................yet😂

We use to live in a Newbuild, the water meter was already Anglia Water. The bills were very high. When our Daughter lived with us in 2010 approx the monthly amount went up as much as £143.00 a month. When our daughter went to uni,they reduced to £73.00 a month.Still high for 2 adults taking a 15 minute shower each day, dishwasher,washing machine, toilet,It depends which Water company you come under? Are you at home during the day? Have young children, water the garden? Health issues? I pay our water to seven Trent £45.00 over 10 months on a rateable value, not metered.I think of Water like you would petrol, the more you use on a meter the more you pay. Its very lucrative for the water companies hence why they promote water meters, so they can make high profits for there shareholders! I am going to dread the day, when they make us change to a water meter.At the same time, if you have any issues with the meter leaks.you could end up with a high reading, which will eventually be dealt with. It happened to us twice in 14 yrs. We were refunded over £500.00+
Water companies can & do adjust your monthly payments every 6 months.Always higher & rarely lower!

My Severn Trent bill for the year has just gone up 38% to £899 for the year. It's totally unjustifiable, how can they increase anyone's bill by that amount?? I'm in a small 2 bed semi, how can they possibly justify charging me that amount? I assume they want me to go on to a meter, but not sure how I'm supposed to arrange anything or ask them, as they will not answer the phone at the moment. I'm furious. I can probably absorb that cost (although I'll resent it) but what about the people that can't? They can't go without, or shop around and change provider.

Severn Trent here too. Had a water meter fitted last summer. They have estimated the bill and decided I should pay £42 a month for a teeny tiny place with only me in it. I’ve asked them to actually read the meter but by the time they’ve done that, 2 payments of £42 will already have gone out…….

Southern Water have increased their bills by 70% for the coming year - our water usage is decreasing (on meter so can see the numbers) yet our bill is increasing by 70%... No increase in service and as there's no competition consumers can't switch to another company (we wrote to our MP we were so annoyed!)

Hi sorry for delay in replying.
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