What is your water bill?

[JDM625]

I realise this has likely be done to death but how much do you spend per person, per month or how many litres do you use?

Its just DH and myself. We both WFH so are here ALL day though. I do 1 load of wash and 1 load in the dishwasher per week (on average). We have a 5000litre tank buried in the garden which takes all water from the roof, so very rarely use the mains water outside. We don't wash the car and always have showers.

Today's bill is £307 for 6mths. The companies home page says we use 173L each per day, but on the bill its 128L each. Its £26 a month each- which doesn't sound too much, but they say we are using above average for 2 people. Are we? What do you pay?

I pay 6 months at a time too. April bill was £96 and Oct bill was £145.
I live alone.

We pay around £40 a month on a plan based on previous year's consumption. Two of us rattling around in a four bedroom house; kids grown and flown. Washing machine on four or five times a week, dishwasher about the same.

We have a smart meter so we can monitor consumption, left a tap dripping for a week on holiday and water co emailed to let us know

We’re about the same.

We pay £73 a month with a water meter two people.

£185/2 people over 6 months. We don’t have a dishwasher and use the washing machine maybe 4x per month. Quite frugal with water consumption

imo water should cost more. We don’t pay its value. And water should also not be owned by foreign investment funds 🫣

May I gently ask what you put in your washing machine 4 times a week? I can’t imagine wearing so many clothes to fill a washer that often,..

£38 pcm. Water meter. 3 adults in a 3 bed semi.

Our water meter charges have just risen from £42 to £60 a month, two people, washing machine used four or five times a week, no dishwasher, showers not baths.

DH has a health condition that causes night sweats, so a couple of pyjama tops, and one bottom most nights. Towels, tea towels separate wash, and my swimming gear. Bedding too.

£50 a month, not on a meter...I have a bath most days, washer is on daily, dishwasher maybe 5 times a week. Just me and 2 teens. Good potentially be cheap with a meter, only been in this new house a few months so will investigate at some point!

One white/light, one dark, one hot towels/sheets, at least one other. Forgot to add we are metered.

1 million pounds a day.

Bastards.

Okay it's really £80/month (2 adults and a baby).

@Lovelynames123 I'd not get a meter in your shoes. I'd have 5 baths a day and start watering my gravel driveway and laugh manically.

£12 per month. Just me.

I think you need a better imagination! By the time I have worn a work uniform with a clean white shirt per 14hr shift, casual clothing, clean underwear and socks each day, sweated in my gym gear, been for a swim, ridden my horses and cleaned them out, had a shower each day using a towel until it pongs a bit, and changed the sheets on my bed when they are similarly pongy - and DH has done the same only instead of horsey clothes he has cricket whites he’s slid along the ground in thrown in for good measure - that’s 4 loads a week. And that’s before I put the horse’s stuff in the washing machine too (but I don’t tell DH I do that!)

I can only imagine you don’t exercise or wash very much, don’t have any hobbies that require different clothing, and if you work it’s in a very clean environment where you don’t wear different clothes to your casual clothes. Or you could just be a bit smelly. Who knows.

Where I live the single biggest consumption of water is the leak from the Thames Water main that runs through my village. In the 20+ years I have lived here there has not been a month where we have not had a water cut while they dig up a different bit of pipe that’s burst. I have a friend who was an accountant to Thames Water once, and she said they work on the premise it is cheaper to be constantly patching leaks for as long as they can than it is to replace a failing main. On paper, this works. It is ever so annoying though when you have 1700 litres of water a day for 4 months undermining the foundations of your property. So yes, while I agree we should be more careful with water, the amount each individual person can save is quite literally just a drop in the ocean compared to the amount the water companies waste by poor management of resources.

Two of us. We wash clothes separately as I need to use non bio sensitive skin washing liquid whereas she uses biological AND fabric conditioner which I abhor.

Add in towels, bedding etc etc and four washes a week doesn't take long to hit.

Depends on what company you are with. Southern Water has put their prices up hugely and my DDR has gone up to £145 a month (from £85 a month last year, no arrears)!! 5 "adults", a couple of us home most of day but short showers(some not even daily), washing machine on twice a day on short cycles and dishwasher once. Never use hose. No baths taken. All very "eco concious." Some handwashing of plates etc at sink, kettles for tea. Had an assessor out to see how we could cut consumption - but no joy as all toilets low flush - only suggestion was bubbler on tap in kitchen as it has a high flow rate but H says no (had one in previous house which was useless). Bill summary says we are an average user for our area and household size.
Water bill alone is now more than our combined gas and electric bill each month.Brutal

@SapatSea that's an outrageous amount. 🤬
I'm with Affinity Water in SE. Prior to getting a water meter, my bills were around £55 pm.
Once I got the meter around two years ago, it was £11 pm. Then they put it up to £17 and now it's £22.
I live alone, have two minutes showers & bath maybe once a week. Then add in dishwasher eo day or thrice weekly. Washing machine probably 4 times a week. To the pp who "gently" asked how someone uses that many clothes, don't they wash towels, bedding or cleaning cloths etc?
Incidentally when I first got my meter (which is inside) I monitored it using the washing machine and found the quick wash ( 15 minutes) used double the amount of water and eco wash uses. My eco wash seems to take 4-5 hours but it's something to bear in mind with those rapid washes.

That was quite a catty response when I was genuinely just asking 🙃

anyway I’ll take it in good humour… I also horse ride and go to the gym 3x per week. I am astonished you have time after a 14h shift. And the gym. And swimming. And also to do the washing after all that too… where do you get the hours to do that.

I’ve not yet had any comments on my smell, at work or otherwise! I don’t wear a uniform so can cycle through different clothes.

I assure you my underwear is always fresh.

agree with you that TW is a car crash - they’re our provider as well. But two things can be true - needing to value water better and for a complete transformation in how our water is provided by companies/a government service provider.

We're with South West Water in Cornwall which has the highest rates in the country (at least double pretty much everywhere else) and at the moment we're paying £80 a month for water! Our bill has almost tripled in the last year!

We're 2 people, 2 loads of washing a week, short showers, a bath about once a year, never water any plants/garden or wash a car or dare run the tap while brushing teeth, we're frugal with water generally because it's so bloody expensive.

It's ridiculous down here, we really need a tourist tax to help pay for it and to improve the infrastructure so we can stop SWW dumping sewage in the sea every week.

Nationalise the water I say! It's ridiculous to have it run by private companies when they all have a monopoly in their area.

That makes sense. Hadn’t considered need for different washing detergents/ person.

Edit to add my quick wash is 30 minutes not 15.

Mine is £83 per month. There were two of us, now just me. Don't think the monthly has adjusted to any less consumption yet. I run the magic cupboard once a day, and have to wash work clothes regularly, but the washing machine is still only a couple of times a week, and in an eco cycle.

Some of that charge is for drainage though (rain run off etc)

Wow to some of these prices!

Family of 5, 3 teens - we pay £185 per month, South East.

I live somewhere I can't have a meter. When I first moved in my bill was around £20 per month, which was what it had been when I WAS on a meter in my old house, so I thought fair enough. Now my bill is nearly £500 per year which I pay in two installments and I think is a bit steep for someone living alone in a tiny cottage.

I pay £78 per month on water rates - no meter. There’s DS here full time and me here 5 days per fortnight