Just moved into a new house to discover its on a water meter :(

[llamallama]

Just moved into a new house to discover we are on a water meter. We have never had one before and I'm feeling all nervous about it.

My mum has always referred to water meters as if they are the devil's work and are to be avoided at all costs. Not really sure why though especially as she lives in a flat with just my Dad, no garden, no excessive laundry etc

But anyway, there is me, my DH and our baby in three bed house with garden. Do I need to get paranoid about running the washing machine and dishwasher? I would normally use both at least once a day. The dishwasher has an "eco" mode on it, maybe I should use that?

Any tips for having a meter? Is it as bad as my mum makes out?

We tend to have showers rather than baths already but I bad at letting the tap just run when I brush my teeth.

Water meters are fine. You should be careful about water usage anyway. No need for any paranoia!

Well it just means you pay for what you use. No need for paranoia. I pay £80 a quarter and we have 4 adults, a baby and a dog. We run the dishwasher twice a day and the washing machine every day. I've never found I pay more on a meter than I would do without in any of the houses I've lived in.

We're metered and it's no more expensive that it was before. I think the paranoia over them is a little bit hyped.

We have a meter. Never noticed any problem with it at all. I Think you're mum is being a tiny bit paranoid. Yes use the eco mode though - you should anyway. I use mine on my washer at night but not during the day - it takes three hours!

This has happened to me. I think the general view is that it makes water more expensive? Although I haven't worked out how that works. Either way, water saving is a good plan. We do the following

Don't run the tap unneccessarily

Don't flush over night - you wouldn't believe the amount of fresh water used to flush a small amount of pee.

I often share baths with my little one. Sometimes I use the bathwater to flush and clean bathroom

Short showers

Eco washes on dishwasher and short wash on machine

I have a family of 5 and the water meter has saved us money!

The meter helps you keep an eye on what your consumption levels are like - but I only look on an annual basis. It certainly makes you think twice about watering the garden but we just went and got a second water-butt.

We dropped the kids to bathing every other night and we keep our showers short. Don't run the tap whilst tooth-brushing. All sensible stuff really.

Everyone needs to think about their use of water - its a scarce commodity.

We had a water meter installed in our last house and our current one and with 3 of us living there, we halved the annual water bill each time. That's with me and DW having showers and DS having baths - we've even watered in a new lawn this spring (not being in a hosepipe ban area)...

Isn't the aim to get as many households on a meter as possible nowadays?
Don't worry about it- you just pay for what you use. I pay £22 a month for water and no standing charge. (2 adults, 2 kids, busy washing machine, no dishwasher but daily washing up, would normally use a hose pipe in summer)

Have a look at your water authority's website on ways to save water.
This is Severn-Trent's water saving products shop.

Just a couple of months ago we got a massive 600 quid cheque back from our water company thanks to our meter.

Ohhh all this sounds good! I knew I shouldn't have listened to my mum! She was making out that it would cost us way more money!

We are not normally water wasters as it were and I agree we should all be careful anyway, I must try not to let the tap run when I brush my teeth.

Good tip about the long cycle on Eco mode though, will use it over night, 3 hours is a long time for one cycle!

We changed to a water meter 6 months ago and our monthly direct debit has come down from £69 to £29, we are two adults and two kids by the way. We are using our normal amount of water as well.

If your washing machine is old it might be worth changing it. We just replaced our 10 year old one with a water efficient one and it does make a difference to our bills (got a refund from our SO).

You do need to be more conscious about water use but that's good for the planet too. Not letting the tap run when brushing teeth is a good habit to get children into.

We have rainwater butts for the garden and washing the car, and are considering fittin a system to use grey water to flush our toilets.

We live in a 3 bed house and had a water meter installed 18 months ago. We are paying £160 less a year. I have the washing machine on loads and a teenage dd who spends hours in the shower, so I wouldn't worry if I were you!