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Water usage and bills £100 a month

11 replies

Star21 · 15/04/2018 14:37

Would anyone mind sharing how many cubic meters of water they use per year and the number of people in the household. We are a family of 4 (one of which is at university so only home a few weeks a year) and our last 2 bills show consumption of around 130cubic meters. The info on the bill says an average 4 person household should use around 75 cubic meters so we are nearly double and I don’t understand why. I am paying £100 a month which is more than my gas and electric combined.
We all have 1 shower per day, probably put the washing machine on 10 times a week, dishwasher once a day, rarely use the hose and the usual amount of toilet flushing with 2 people at work all day, 1 at school and I at uni most of the time. Could I have a faulty meter?

OP posts:
Lazypuppy · 15/04/2018 15:54

We're a family of 3 and pay £20 a month. 2 showers a day, washing machine maybe 4 or 5 times a week, dishwasher every other day and use hose lots in summer for garden and paddling pools.

specialsubject · 15/04/2018 17:44

How long are those showers? Power showers use loads, more than 3 minutes and you have filled a bath.

Turn everything off and see if the meter has stopped.

SluttyButty · 15/04/2018 18:35

We are with Thames water, pay £39 a month for a family of four.
We had someone out recently from them to do a usage and energy check. They brought the bits that go in taps so they use less water, checked all the toilets for leaks, new shower head that used less water etc. Was a very informative visit.

Raver84 · 15/04/2018 18:36

I was you. We were paying 90-100 per month roughly. On a meter. They reckoned we were using on average 650 litres per day.

I had them check for leaks. None. I had my meter monitored hourly. There were no anomalies.

We really just were using loads of water. I have 4 children under 7. I was doing loads of washing about 14 loads per week. Bath every night for the kids. Shower for husband and I each morning. Washing up pans leaving tap running, dishwasher on three times a day.

We had to cut back as we changed jobs and had less money. I bought a device on amazon where by it measured my shower usage litres per minute. Mine uses 12 l per minute. We were having ten minute showers every day so that was 240 litres alone each morning. The kids having a deep bath although sharing water was 100 l.

I emailed bosch and found out the cycle I used on my washibg mach used around 60 so another 120 L right there.

Flushing the loo is about 10 L each go so make sure we use the economy flush button now as this adds up too. Got a free bag from water company to put in loo to save water each flush.

What I did: massively cut back on washing I insisted the kids wear things more than once if possible. I will only do one load a day now. I bought a new washing mach too as old one died, the cycle is 50 l.

Kids bath ever other night with a wash on the other days. Bath half full. If I don't need a shower some days I can get away with a good wash and clean clothes if I'm in a hurry.

Otherwise I do shower each day but have a timer set for 2 mins. Dh does tge same. Only days it's longer is when I need to wash hair. The its 4 mins.

Turn off taps when washing up.

By doing this we now use 320 l per day way under what is usual for a family of 6 and my bill is half what it was. I started this in january anf apart from the longer shower I don't miss any of the other bits.

I say carefully examine your usage as it does add up. I didn't believe it but it does.

Screaminginsideme · 15/04/2018 18:45

10 loads of washing a week! For 3 people.
We do half that and there are 3 adults and 2 kids in our house

Star21 · 15/04/2018 19:17

Yes I was looking at worse case scenario on washing machine, one to two for towels, one for bedding, one to two for gym clothes (cant really wear more than once) 2 of us twice a week plus DH football kit and towel, one for filthy horse riding gear, then probably 3 or 4 for work and school clothes.
I am intrigued by the device that measures shower usage, ours is quite powerful, DH and DD have a habit of leaving it on for ages to warm up before they get in, I think I might start timing them.
I am going to look for something for the loo too and check the meter doesn’t move when we are out at work all day.
Thanks for suggestions, it literally is money down the drain.

OP posts:
SluttyButty · 15/04/2018 19:40

I started buying those Dr Beckman sheets and now bung all washing in the machine together. It's massively reduced the weekly washloads because all are now full loads.

specialsubject · 15/04/2018 19:51

Power shower with hot water tank should be warm in seconds. There is one of your water wasters.

LittleBearPad · 15/04/2018 19:56

Ours is £33 a month - 4 of us and at least 2 in the house most of the time.

That’s a lot of washing although with the gym kit / horse riding kit I get why it is

MariaFranco · 17/04/2018 23:00

Hmmm £55 a month, 4 people, 10 washloads a week, watering the garden, about 30 showers a week plus a couple of baths....

Notreallyhappy · 18/04/2018 23:01

If they not power showers you can get widgets to fix on the shower head..reduces water by 30%. A brick/stone will reduce your toilet water until you can get some water bags.

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