The bloody water bill! Would you get a meter in this scenario??

[Bemyclementine]

I just don't understand why its so much! Just checked my banking and my water bill has gone up to just shy of £100 a month. 2 bed end terrace, 1 adult, 2 dc.

I do 4 or 5 loads of washing a week. No shower in the house, but the bath is used maybe 4 times a week max (we shower at swimming/gym) If i have a bath the kids get in after.

Slimline dishwasher used 4 or 5 times a week.

10 litres of water a day for animal purposes, less in winter as catch rainwater.

Very occasional paddling pool in summer

Does £100 a month sound a lot to you?

We had a meter and apparently a leak for a long time without knowing about it. Our usage was a bit on the high side for five people. It was when we went down to three people and it was on the high side for five, or even six people that I thought something was up. Then the pipe burst anyway, we had it fixed, and the usage went down to low it medium for three people. Sounds more reasonable!

The monthly payment was £80 and with the price increases it would have gone up to £112! Now I'm paying £50 a month!

Don't know how old your children are @Bemyclementine but when they become teenagers they seem to spend half their lives in the shower and the washing gets worst, larger clothes and frequent changes. Personally I'd stay unmetered unless living alone! I'm small mid terrace with 2 adult sons. The washer has been on twice today and yesterday plus dishwasher daily and the showers🤷
United utilities, think its £600 per year. Strange how the rates vary so much from one company to another!

the infrastructure is old and has had years of historic under-investment, mainly because no one wants to pay higher water bills to help maintain and enhance it.

Mine is £85 a month, which I think is steep as-well, new build, 2 adults 2 young children.
Used to be £40 when it was just us.
We're with Yorkshire Water tho so no idea if it's classed as expensive.

Even when the water companies themselves promote/urge people to switch to meters to save money, cynical me thinks that this is all planned so that, once virtually everybody has a meter (and they may even use the high uptake to campaign for payments based on rateable value to be scrapped, as impractical to administer for such a low number of people), the power will be permanently back in their hands again.

Just like with electric cars, where they've been heavily promoted for several years based on paying no/next to no VED; and even already - whilst ICE cars are still currently available - they're talking of pay per mile and hiking VED dramatically. I'm guessing there will also be an additional wholesale tax on home electricity use - justified as 'easily affordable' because households aren't having to spend money on petrol anymore.

Whether governments, enormous companies or anybody with a monopoly, they're never going to sit back long-term and cheerfully accept getting less money in, regardless of which carrot/stick they originally used to end up there.

The squeezed middle getting squeezed even harder.

We are two adults, one toddler.

We don't all have daily showers. Little one has a bath once or twice a week.
Dishwasher is on at least once a day.
Washing machine is on 1-2 times a day on average.
No other water use.
When we were washing nappies daily (which was a lot as they had 2-3 cycles) on top of clothes we were paying £55 monthly.
Now he is out of nappies it has gone down a little.

When I got a meter in a previous house, you had 6 months to decide if it is for you before it is permanent. I don't know if the rules have changed as that will have been around 15 years ago now, but check with your water company. The info was easily available on their website.

If they can't fit one you can get an assessed rate instead.

Im single live alone no kids, i pay £60 a month.
Shower everyday washing twice a week depends on what i have.

Well I'm paying higher water bills and the infrastructure doesn't seem to be getting replaced. We've had three separate leaks on our quite small street in the last six months, and 24 hours of no water during one of them. I live in greater manchester, not the middle of nowhere, so it's a lot of people affected each time. I've checked United Utilities website and there are no plans for any upgrades within five miles of me.

@Fibrous obviously your little street is representative of the entire United Utilities area! Not everything that's in the pipeline (pun entirely intentional) will on their website or have even got as far as being on their website yet.

I'm in Yorkshire.1 adult, two teens who shower A LOT. Washer on most days. No garden to water tho, and don't wash car at home. Our bill was just shy of £100. On a meter, even with a recent price increase, we are on £35 per month. Massive saving. I believe you can try it out for a few months and go back if it isn't cost effective for you?

Im with South West Water and our metered monthly direct debit is about to go up to £129pm 😬 Particularly galling having just watched the docudrama on Channel 4 called "Dirty Business" 😡😡😡 Robbing, swindling, treacherous bastards.

Even low earners or high earners have to pay water. It’s nothing to do with the squeezed middle. My water bill is the same whether I earn min wage or 40k

I think for most small families meter is nearly always better. I’m here on my own for 7 months and then student son is here for 5 months - it feels like we use a lot of water (both shower twice a day, use washing machine every other day) but our bill is £32 a month, less than half what it was before.

I have checked, I am not eligible.

It's to pay their fines for polluting rivers. I'm a low user yet DD has gone up from £24.50pm to £37 (two adults). The customer service is appalling as well.

We are on a meter.
3 adults so three showers a day and an occasional bath. Washing machine on every other day, dishwasher daily. £42 a month. We (by that I mean DH and DS) don’t save water, the other two are always leaving the tap running while they brush their teeth etc.