water metre, we have inherited one in the new house but dont want it..

[goingtobefree]

Can we ask the water company to remove this ?
I was told that it cant be removed once it has been installed

We had this in a house previously, it depends how long it has been fitted. If you have a new water meter and aren't happy with it then you have up to 12 months (2 water bills) to have it taken away if you aren't making a saving. They don't take it away just disconnect the meter part of it.

However, if there is one originally in the house and it has been there longer than 12 months then it has to stay. We tried to get the meter taken away in our last house - but the Welsh Water board wouldn't as it had been there for a few years.

You can contact the Water board and find out how long it has been there ? and ask, it can't do any harm in asking if it can be taken away.

No you can't get it removed. You can apparently ask to be billed the old way but I don't know what the circumstances are. But I would guess unlikely.

Nope, we had the same problem

We have compulsory metering round here. So one has been fitted but we are allowed to be billed the old way.

However once we move the new people will be billed on the meter and have no choice.

Like others have said 12 months is the deadline for having one removed. We tried to get one installed that was 13 months old and Severn Trent wouldn't budge.

We inherited one with this house, I was terrified of the bills on ours but so far (touch wood) it's been less than we used to pay on ratable value. I can't guarantee it'll stay like that as we've only been in a short time but so far I've been surprised.

We inherited one with our new house that we bought in June last year. I was a bit concerned about the bills but despite being a much bigger house we are using much less water. Our payments to UU have halved!
It definitely makes us think more about how much we use and considering I was set against it when we first arrived, I am pleased we have it now!

My old water rates were £800 pa. we had a meter fitted and now our bills are approx £60 a quarter. It's worked out much cheaper.

We are careful with water, ie don't leave taps running and don't flush after every visit. But my dishwasher is on daily and do is my washing machine.

None of us have a bath but we shower daily and my dd can be in there for 30 mins!

Oh thats reassuring, I dont even know how much we paid in our last house.
Will keep an eye out for the bills
The house was unoccupied for few years so it is very unlikely that the metre was installed less than a year ago.
We dont take bath it is a shower household and dont use dishwasher regularly either.

We had a metre installed a couple of years ago. I much prefer the idea of paying for usage, even if it is higher, than rates that don't encourage economy. Anyway, we have found as a family of 4 with 2 small DCs s0 having a bath most days, dishwasher and washing machine on daily etc. that we still use way less on the metre than the rates we paid before so it has been a hugely positive move for us. I wouldn't worry too much, you will probably find that your bills are fairly economical.

We have a water meter (2 adults,3 children) is £20 per month.

note that if you have a power shower, spend too long in it and you might as well have a bath. Showers need to be a few minutes, not 20 minute mega splashes.

apart from that it is the obvious - don't run taps while cleaning teeth (why do this anyway?) don't wash stuff under running water, use appliances on full loads, don't wash the car with a hose and don't water the lawn in the summer (also unnecessary).

shouldn't make any difference to a reasonable lifestyle, none of the above are hardships.

I think water companies are putting up rateable values to try and encourage meters.

I'm pretty sure our bills would be lower if we had a meter. Our rates are £50 a month. When we lived in other areas, the rates were half that. I think we had a meter in one house too. We've never paid so much for water until we moved into a northumbrian water area.