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Housekeeping

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Do you think a water meter will save me money?

19 replies

crazycrazy · 26/01/2010 08:10

My annual water bill is £750. This sounds very high compared to everyone else I've spoken to (it's only a 3 bed semi!). I've pretty much decided to get a water meter fitted, as there are only 2 of us plus baby in the house. Do you think a meter will save me much? (we don't take baths, baby only bathed twice a week, I do about 5-6 machine washes a week and we probably use the dishwasher once a day)

Thoughts please

OP posts:
LadyintheRadiator · 26/01/2010 08:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HallelujahHeisBorntoMary · 26/01/2010 08:32

I would say it would. I remember how pleasantly surprised how my water rates dropped when I moved from a band A council tax house to a band E council tax house because the second house had a water meter. Go for it!

PavlovtheCat · 26/01/2010 08:43

No it won't.

LIZS · 26/01/2010 08:54

We have a 4 bed and it is £18 pm on water meter. Really depends on what your local water company charges though.

Indith · 26/01/2010 08:58

If you ring customer services they shoyld be able to tell you what the average spend on a meter is for a house your size and with the number of occupants. I would think a meter would save you though.

thehairybabysmum · 26/01/2010 09:10

No idea about water meter costs sorry but dont forget to factor in that your baby won't stay small and you may (?) have more.

wordgirl · 26/01/2010 09:14

We pay about £100 a quarter for two adults and three children. We chose to have a water meter put in this house after previously living in a house where one was already installed. I'm sure we pay less than we would without a meter and we're not particularly frugal with our water. So in a word, yes, I think it probably would save you money

PavlovtheCat · 26/01/2010 11:23

Apologies for my abrupt post. Phone rang before i had a chance to respond in a more civilised manner!

Are you in th SW? for example, we use washing machine 5+times a week, good economical dishwasher once a day, non-power shower, dd baths perhaps 3 times a week. Ours is £50pm approx, based on 3 of us. This is for water + wastage charge. Have not included newborn, as he is only 8wks so no bill for that period yet. We are in the SW (SW water), and our annual rates would have been around the same. Maybe we save £50 a year.

How old is DD? She is likely to need more baths as she grows older, or take showers, do you have plants which need watering regularly - indoors/outdoors? Do you have/could you have a water butt to collect water to water them? Is your washine machine/dishwasher old (older models use more water). Is your cistern an economical cistern? (older models use more water, newer models are/should be fitted with water saving flushes). Do you own your property and think you might sell (once it is installed, it cannot be removed if you change your mind, after the first year, at least down here). Are you planning/might you plan on more children in the future? Do you do watersports/have access to muddy activities that might require more washing of clothes/showering? (for example we live near the beach and in the summer spend most weekends and often time in the week on the beach getting sandy/muddy/covered in salt water, in the winter we get muddy stomping in the countryside = more showers, more washing of clothes). the number of bedrooms make no difference, it is the number of people in it for water meter.

Some of my friends are able to get theirs down to £25pm with no children by being extra extra careful all the time. I have one lot of friends who pays £20 with one child, but they shower perhaps less than they should .

It really is not as simple as will it save you money or not save you money, depends on the above. Your local provider should do an online calculation option, where you enter approx details in (ho many toilet flushes per day etc) and converts into water consumption and average usage cost per year based on that info, to give you a rough idea.

PavlovtheCat · 26/01/2010 11:25

oh and sorry not sure why i presumed you baby was a girl! i thought i read DD i think but did not!

Flightattendant · 26/01/2010 11:26

Yes, without a doubt...that amount is outrageous unless you run a golf course and use 25 sprinklers.

When we moved here (2 bed flat) we were told we could only have a meter if we waited a few months while they found our address which they duly cocked up majorly.

They wanted £35 a month. I said feck off. We got the meter (after a LOT of hard work and hassle) and it came down to £9...we are careful with water yes but even so, not THAT careful...

you need to get this sorted asap.

GothDetective · 26/01/2010 11:36

Yes. I had a meter in the old house when 2 of us and a baby and bill was £14 a month, 6 years ago but still!

I think some water companies let you trial a meter for a year. If you want you can then go back to ratable value. BUT, when yo usell the house the next occupants have no choice and must be on metered rates.

crazycrazy · 26/01/2010 13:32

Thanks all, that's really useful

lol Flightattendant - unfortunately no golf course

thanks pavlov, it's useful to think about all that and the various factors to take into account

I'm going to go for it - I think there is a 3 month delay though but at least I'll be saving after that anyway

OP posts:
ibbydibby · 26/01/2010 14:03

When I phoned up and requested ours (at start of 2009) was told that we could have it for up to one year (or may even have been 2) and if we ended up paying more on the meter, could revert to non-metered....maybe they have this scheme where you are?

crazycrazy · 26/01/2010 15:51

thanks ibbydibby I'll ask. That's good if they do that, then you don't lose out

OP posts:
GothDetective · 26/01/2010 17:46
HallelujahHeisBorntoMary · 26/01/2010 18:16

did someone say something?

Interesting about that trial, I didn't know you could do that. We've not gone over to a meter at our current house because we have a pond, and at one stage we were losing water from it (thankfully I think that is sorted)

crazycrazy · 26/01/2010 22:54

oops, sorry Goth

OP posts:
ibbydibby · 27/01/2010 14:44

Yes, ditto, sorry goth. No offence meant...

GothDetective · 28/01/2010 00:31

Its ok.

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