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Find financial and money saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum.

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Find financial and money saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum.

Money matters

Anyone had a water meter fitted? Water bill go up or down?

26 replies

clumsymum · 10/03/2008 15:33

I've just opened our water bill for this year, and like everything else it's gone up.

I've always been afraid that if we had a water meter our bill would be higher, what with bathing DS, dishwasher on every night, washing machine 9 or 10 times some weeks.

Any experience?

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jumpyjan · 10/03/2008 15:44

Had ours fitted today.

The water company told us for me, DH & DD it should come to around £45 per month - my bill was for £97!

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claricebeansmum · 10/03/2008 15:46

I think our water meter is cheaper than before. In fact we have only just started paying for water 18 months after the meter was fitted because there was so much credit on the account.

We run dishwasher everynight and DC have bath/shower and washing machine seems to be on all the time..

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Posey · 10/03/2008 15:47

My parents had one fitted, because, apparently, if there are fewer people in the house than the number of bedrooms, a meter will decrease your water bill. They are 2 in a 4 bed house.
So if you are a family of 5 in a 3 bed house it should be cheaper not to have a meter.

Thats what they were told anyway!

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clumsymum · 10/03/2008 15:48

We are 3 in a 4 bed house.

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claricebeansmum · 10/03/2008 15:52

Posey - that rings a bell. I remember when I was a kid we moved from 1 bathroom house to house with 2 bathroom and cloackroom and the water rates increased 3 fold and my Dad argued with Thames Water successfully that just because we had more bathrooms did not mean that we would be using the loo 3 times as much. That was about 30 years ago though..

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janinlondon · 10/03/2008 15:53

Have you looked at uswitch.com? I think that's where they have a calculator...

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lou33 · 10/03/2008 15:55

mine went down

i think i pay about 95 quid every 6 months, thats 5 of us, dishwasher, shower washing machine , used when needed

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janinlondon · 10/03/2008 16:01

This article is quite helpful.

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AnAngelWithin · 10/03/2008 16:04

just to say, if you have a water meter with severn trent and 3 or more children and recieve certain benefits or working/child tax credit, you are entitled to 'watersure' which means your water charges are capped at £300.98 per year (thats what it is for this year anyway i think) we were paying over £600 on a water meter with 6 of us before we applied for watersure, so its worth it if you are eligible

look here for details

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PuppyMonkey · 10/03/2008 16:09

When we moved into our house, our first bill was about £320 for six months ... they advised us we might be better with meter (Sev Trent, that is) and why don't we have one on trial? If we didn't like, they'd take it out. There were three of us (four now since dd2 arrived last year) and even our last bill was only about £120 for six months - so still not as expensive as that first bill 8 years ago!! We aren't wasteful with water, but don't skimp either... Get one!

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JingleyJen · 10/03/2008 16:10

we had one fitted and it went down as did M&D's and PiL I think that for the size of house in comparison to the people living in it can make a differnce.

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redadmiral · 10/03/2008 16:15

Mine is about the same, or slightly less than the water rates, but we are 4 in a 2 bed flat. I prefer it as it makes us careful with water, within reason, and I feel I have control over the bills - ie, can cut down if necessary.

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clumsymum · 10/03/2008 16:30

Blimey Lou33, my bill is £488 for the year.

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lou33 · 10/03/2008 18:49

wow really?

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nannyL · 10/03/2008 18:50

mine went down LOADS

but then i live by myself in a 3 bed house.... and i eat (and therefor have all stuff washed up) at work...

i reckon i flush the loo 3 times per day (its a brand new water efficient toilet) and use my (brand new water efficient) washing machine 5 / 6 times per month...

I do like my baths but my bath is a smaller than normal size bath so doenst use as much water...

i dont have a dishwasher (yet) and i wash up (in a washing up bowl) my mugs (from my cups of tea) once or twice per week so not much water being used by me at all

I spend £4 per month on my water in (my water supply company is the cheapest in the country) and about £15 per month on waste water!

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clumsymum · 10/03/2008 20:17

nannyL, are you telling us that you leave mugs for 3 or 4 days before you wash them????

Yuk,

I'd have to boil them if I did that.

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LIZS · 10/03/2008 20:22

Ours is about £18 a month (d/d but seems on target for the year) on water meter.

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nannyL · 10/03/2008 21:12

my beutiful mugs are [erfectly clean thank you....

i have the weakest milkiest tea imaginable and i drink the lot, every last drip, so its not like any liquid sits there, and i dotn even drink tea daily, just the occasional one...

oh and glasses that have had water in (cause i only drink water)... they are all fine.

I NEVER wash up more than about 2 mugs 3 glasses that have had water in at a time

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clumsymum · 11/03/2008 10:34

Will I looked on the calculator. Apparently it would cost us about £500 p.a. on a meter, so there is nothing to be gained.

I must be able to save some money somewhere??

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Fizzylemonade · 11/03/2008 17:40

Clumsymum - we have always had a water meter at every house so I have never paid rates.

I have 2 young sons who bath every other night, we shower every day, dishwasher is on everyday - its a bosch so it is energy efficient, my washing machine (again a bosch) is on at least once if not twice a day.

We have one new toilet (uses small amount of water) and one old one that uses loads of water I am sahm so I am here in the day making nice cups of tea and my quarterly water bill is £60!!! so £240 a year. I'm in Yorkshire.

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jellybeans · 11/03/2008 17:44

There are six of us and I did the calculator and a meter would be 5 times what we pay now!!!!! Hope they don't become compulsary!!!

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clumsymum · 14/03/2008 09:41

Wow Fizzy, we need to move.

I'm in Nottingham , Severn Trent water board (or whatever they're called these days).

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pigleto · 14/03/2008 09:43

our water bill went down after the meter was fitted.

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cece · 14/03/2008 09:44

Ours went down and this year when I realised we had overpaid by £64 it was reduced again.

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cece · 14/03/2008 09:48

So last year we paid £276 for the year. This year we will be paying £180 for the year.

We are a family of 4. Kids have baths most nights. We have showers daily plus baths at weekend. Washing machine on daily and dishwasher. One new toilet and one old one that uses more. But we have a saying in our house (providing we don't have visitors)

If it's yellow let it mellow

If it's brown flush it down....

Thanks

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