£60 a month for water is ridiculous, right??

[PrivateWeeingGoals]

Posting here for traffic... Sorry for the dull subject matter!

Just received new water bill for the year, almost £60pm direct debit. Up from £43pm.
It's a rateable value bill, now thinking of switching to metered bill. Anyone have any experience of this working out cheaper? Only DS and me in smallish 3 bed semi.

I cannot fathom how the bill can possibly be £60pm! Will get on the phone tomorrow but wondered if anyone would care to share their experiences of water meters?

TIA

I live on an island, which has to desalinate most of its water, with a profligate partner and two young children - so the washing machine and dishwasher seem to be on most of the time, and showers last until the hot water runs out (small tank, so not very long thank goodness) - plus, the landlady saw fit to put lots of pot plants and an auto-waterer, and we often fill a paddling pool in summer or let the kids play with the hosepipe

My (metered) bill is still less than €60/month. I think in your case I'd consider a meter.

You become responsible for your supply pipe if you go on a meter. I've had three leaks in mine. Total cost of lost water was approx £2700. The water company will cover the cost of the first leak but not the second.

You can buy alarms that alert you if your consumption goes up or check the meter regularly (I do this)
You can also buy insurance to cover the cost of digging up and fixing the pipe (I'm forced to do this by previous experience) and its £15 a month so factor that in

I'd like to replace the supply pipe because it's become prohibitively expensive to keep fixing and dealing with leaks but that job is also prohibitively expensive

We are metered. Pay between £54 and £60 per month, but actually pay is every 6 months. There's 3 of us but I have absolutely no idea how we spend so much on water!

We pay £76 a month.

I'm SWW and pay £28 per month on a meter. This is with dishwasher, washing machine, DH's showers and my addiction to baths!

Everyone he is responsible for their supply pipe from the property boundary metered or not. They won't physically remove a fitted meter but if you have it installed you should be able to return to rateable value within 12 months. Rateable value is nothing to do with the council tax band as such but is on number of bedrooms and uses average consumption values and assumes full occupation of rooms so if you have 6 people in a 2 bed you may be worse off on a meter 2 people in a 3 bed you will almost certainly be better off.

It's the problem of allowing private companies in England to control water supply.

Was a big mistake.

I don't have a water bill. My domestic water charges are contains within my council tax, and is approx £25 a month. No one has meters.

I noticed on my bank statement that ours has doubled, we are on a meter. I can't remember if we pay monthly or quarterly. If it's quarterly it's less than I thought but if it's monthly it's gone up loads with no warning. I need to investigate!

do you all have two bills per month?
one for usage and one for sewage?

I went to double check ours as it seemed so much cheaper than most, it's £27 a month for a 5 bed house (rateable). We don't pay for sewage though as we have a septic tank.

Wow for those of you with low monthly bills on a meter can you say which water authority you are with?
I'm in a meter with Thames water and in my house there is me, DH, DS(17) and DD(7).

We run a washing machine 5 times a week, there must be 12-15 short showers and two baths a week, no dishwasher.

Our metered bill works out as £60 a month approx and I have been checked for leaks and pressure issues

I think with just you and one child, you would definitely be better off with a meter! It's only with bigger households that there is any doubt I think.

Mine is £60 for a large 4 bed, 4 people and non metered. SESW water. Used to be Thames.

We are in the SE and pay £57 per month. 2 bed 2 adults 1 toddler 1 baby!
I feel ours is too high but the bill says we use the correct amount of water for the amount of people in our house. We installed a dishwasher last year which saw the bill shoot up but when I looked at the bill more carefully the most expensive part wasn't our actual usage it was the rates for removal of sewage etc
We are metered

Severn Trent.

Two adults, daily baths/showers, dw on most days, 3-4 loads of washing a week.

£17 a month.

You are being done over op.

I'm on a meter, love in East Anglia so Anglian Water is our supplier. Large 4 bed house, 2 adults, 9yo, toddler and a baby. My direct debit is £72 per month! I didn't think it was thst bad considering the amount of washing we do and bathing 5 people everyday etc but after reading this thread I'm not so sure

Move to meter my my saved 55% on her bill

SWW and £60 a month. Small 3 bedroom terrace with 2 adults and one teen. Another teen home in the holidays. Showers x 2, 1 x bath, 1 x dishwasher run every day and around 4 loads of washing a week. I think its expensive but then SWW are the most expensive in the country. Ask neighbours OP if you can whether they are metered and what they pay. My understanding is also that once a meter is fitted, you can't then go back to rated.

When you are on metered water does the monthly bill include both water and waste water/sewerage services - or is that billed separately? Does it include insurance for the water pipe from the meter to the house?

I know neighbours who have been hit for thousands because of a leak under a driveway - not just having to pay to repair the leak, but also for the water wasted and the driveway re-instatement.

I pay £70 for 2 of us, and we are water-conscious and try to save it. The problem is that we have been planning building work for some years, and there is a fairly hefty charge to move a meter once it is installed. So we've held off putting one in. However, the delays over the work mean it would probably have been cheaper just to go for it and swallow the cost.

We are buying a house

Is there anyway I can find out the water costs for it in advance?

We pay £89 a month for 4 of us (2 of which share a bath). Shocking, although apparently that's what we use on the meter. Don't know how though...

if you move home the meter is fitted as standard, you cant have it removed.
( essex, not sure if its the same Uk wide) i did ask when we moved in and was told no, you have to keep it.
had one for 10 years at this property and water bills have gone down over the years- its is now 42 a month ( we have to pay two separate companies). i do use a dishwasher and the washer is on most days - have a shower and 2 loos.

I pay £50 a month in rates to Thames water for a 2 bed flat. Never occurred to me to question it, tbh, but this thread is making me think!

When I was living on my own, I paid £45 per month on the old water rates. 20 years later we are now a family of 4, in the same house, and we pay £39 a month.
If you go on your water suppliers website, they usually have calculators to see how much you could expect to pay

Although isn't part of it sewage and part of it water?