Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Water Meters

18 replies

Iwantmychairback · 01/10/2020 06:43

Can I please ask how much you pay per month if you’re on a meter?
We are on rates and pay a fortune. However, when I do a price check to switch to a meter, we are classed as high users. I have no idea why!
North West
Two adults, two dogs
One person at home all day, the other 4/7
No dish washer (no room for one)
Use washing machine 4 times per week on average (clothes/ bedding / towels / pet stuff)
Rarely water garden
Use buckets to wash cars not hose pipe
How does that make us a high user household?

OP posts:
Hie2021 · 01/10/2020 06:57

£19 per month two adults.
No dishwasher , same as you with washing , maybe 4-6 times per week. We’re classified as low users. Do you have a leak? They detected one with us a couple of years ago and fixed it (before the meter was installed).

Todaythiscouldbe · 01/10/2020 07:00

Do you have baths or showers?

thesunwillout · 01/10/2020 10:02

Depends on area.

South West water, on metre.

Two people, no dishwasher, 2 loads washing a week. No baths.

£48 a month.

AriettyHomily · 01/10/2020 10:04

SE on a meter, £30ish a month I think.

Two adults, two kids, dishwasher on a couple of times a day (slimline not full size), maybe 8 loads of washing a week.

We very very rarely use the bath, none of us really like it.

We came out as low use when they installed it.

Saladd0dger · 01/10/2020 10:06

£41.60 a month. 2 adults 3 children. No dishwasher. Wash up 3x daily. Baths each day as the shower has broke and at least a load of clothes each day plus towels and bedding. Get the hose on my green wheelie bin weekly as well. Wessex water.

RustyBear · 01/10/2020 10:20

Two adults, dishwasher 3-4 times a week, washing machine 4-5 times a week, showers not baths.
We currently pay £24 a month, but I'm expecting that to go up because before COVID DH lived away from home during the week, now he's wfh.
However, it'll still be much less than the £70+ per month we were paying on water rates (and that was over 3 years ago, so would be more now)

whensmynexthol1day · 01/10/2020 12:58

We pay £39 a month - we've only just started but I've been checking the meter and it seems fairly accurate. 2 adults 2 kids Long showers and 3-4 baths a week plus 8 washes and 7-8 dishwashes a week.
A steal compared to the £109 they wanted a month without a meter!!!

Original poster
Iwantmychairback · 01/10/2020 19:53

Oh, yes I forgot that question. We both have a shower everyday. Very, very rarely have a bath. Currently paying £65 per month on rates.
I will go back on the website to double check, because some of you are saying you are classed as a low user in similar circumstances.

OP posts:
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 01/10/2020 21:38

3 adults full time plus one outside of term time. Everyone showers at least once a day, washing machine nearly every day, dishwasher (small one) once a day, pressure washer for car when needed, garden irrigation system, pond, fish tank....

Six monthly billing comes to around £350 per annum (£100 less than it would be on the water rates).

BarbaraofSeville · 02/10/2020 06:05

A dishwasher would use less water than washing up by hand so this will be one reason for higher water use.

If your shower is a power shower, they use quite a lot of water.

We're in a similar position, we pay rates and unsure if we would save by going to a meter. We currently pay around £30-40 pm (can't remember the amount).

You can get a meter and switch back to rates within a year if it's not working out cheaper for you.

claireb7rg · 02/10/2020 06:17

Generally if there are more bedrooms than people on your house you are better off with a meter

2 adults, 2 cats, showers daily, dishwasher on 6-7 times a week, washing machine 2-3 times a week. We pay £25 a month on meter. I suspect it might go up a bit now though as I'm wfh

Nquartz · 02/10/2020 06:20

2 adults, 1 DC. 3 showers per day, occasional bath for DC. Washing machine 4/5 times per week, dishwasher 3/4 times plus small amount of washing up daily.

£22 per month

pinkbalconyrailing · 02/10/2020 06:32

it's the garden.
what type of property is it?
we were classed as 'high' when we were (mandatory) switched over. 3 double and 1 single bedrooms, average occupation was estimated 5 people for this property size & garden.

our exact water bill was half the amount of the prior rate.

btw diswashers use way less water than washing up by hand. ours uses less than 10l on the eco cycle for a full load.

pinkbalconyrailing · 02/10/2020 06:34

You can get a meter and switch back to rates within a year if it's not working out cheaper for you.

depends on the area. our area was switched over entirely, we had no choice. many areas do not let you switch back if you go on a meter.

Mintjulia · 02/10/2020 06:34

One adult one teen, showers, dishwasher,.
About £20 a month

PleasantVille · 02/10/2020 06:42

Asking othjer people how much they pay is like asking them how much their weekly shop is it's totally meaningless.

Check if your area allows switching back to unmetered water if it's more expensive and then change and find out.

userxx · 04/10/2020 08:22

United utilities seem to be expensive compared to some of the other areas. I pay £38 per month on a meter, 2 adults out of the house all day, about 5 washing loads a week plus dishwasher about 4 times a week.

RandomMess · 04/10/2020 09:05

We pay £60ish per month on meter.

3 adults 2 teens, 1 dog, 1 normal cat, 1 cat that will only drink from a running tap 🙄

DH has a bath rather than shower most days, fairly sporty lot so washing machine used daily, dishwasher most days.

Don't water garden, occasionally wash the car.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page