Massively increased water bill

[Secondchild2019]

We've just received out latest water bill (metered) and our monthly payment has increased by £20pm which seems really high!

I've called the supplier and they were also surprised about the increase considering our circumstances have changed. They suggested checking the meter ourselves to see if we could see the numbers moving over a minute or so which would indicate a leak but it looked pretty steady.

Any ideas on what could have caused this??

I'm having the same issue. The company contacted me to warn me that my water usage had doubled, and asked if my circumstances had changed. They haven't, so they've asked me to do this test to see if it's a leak at the meter (their problem) or in my property (my problem). Meanwhile they've put my direct debit back to what it would normally be, while I investigate

www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/plumbing/checking-for-leaks/

Unfortunately my stopcock has seized so I can't do it yet. But give that a try.

It's likely to be a leak. Get a plumber out to have a look

Where is your internal stop valve? Usually under a sink etc. Turn this off. Grab a screwdriver and a torch and go check the meter. If the small numbers are spinning they yes this is likely to be a leak on the supply pipe. If it's totally still go and turn the stop valve on again. If they start to spin the first thing to look for is wastage. Look carefully at the back of the toilet bowl is there constantly running water. Feel the base of the taps leaks don't always drip. And always worth checking any overflow pipes you may have. If nothing is moving on the dial, then it is likely to be usage of some type. This can include things like sticky toilet valves and heating system using water. You will be amazed how much little plumbing issues can add up to. Good luck.

Lastly it's worth submitting your own meter read. I have known bills to jump because a meter reader read a 3 as an 8. So if your read was 532 but they recommended 582 they would think you were using more than you are.

The leak thing was what worried me... thanks all, very good tips that I will check out when DH is home and can occupy DS. I've not noticed anything obvious but sounds like I need to check for more hidden signs.

The boiler's due a service this month so will ask the plumber if I can't find anything.

Let me know how you get on saraclara - interested to know what you find! My water company didn't mention sticking at my previous rate until we know what the problem is so might have to give them another call.

I had an unusually high bill one quarter, then a horrendous massive massive bill the next quarter when the leak got worse.

have a look down the water meter hole. Depending on type, you may see a glass widow facing up (wipe it clean). Is there a bubble in the middle? Is it turning? In this type, the bubble will turn all the time water is flowing. If it never stops, even when you are using no water, there is a leak. If you turn off the indoor stopcock, and the bubble stops, the leak is inside your house. If you turn off the indoor stopcock and it does not stop, the leak is in the ground between the meter and your indoor stopcock.

You may see a T-handle rising out of the meter. If you screw it downwards, it will turn off the water through the meter.

If you have a young person with good hearing standing in the kitchem with no other sounds (TV, fridge, extractor fan, traffic) they may notice a faint noise that stops when you shut off the meter, and starts when you open it again.

We had the same thing. Moved house (only 2 roads away) same situation and family but water use went from £39 a month to £60. Did all we could including getting water board out to o checks etc. We'd noticed that one of the bath taps was dripping a bit (almost a constant but very light stream). We paid £100 to get both bath taps replaced - 6 months later water company got in touch and we got over £150 back - turns out that tiny bit of water coming out massively increased consumption - fixed that, problem solved and back to £35 a month.

Quick update in case it helps anyone else. We did a check for leaks and followed the steps about checking the meter with stop valve off etc. No visible leaks and the numbers on the meter weren't moving. We took readings a fortnight apart and I called the water company with these yesterday and explained we didn't think there was a leak.

They said the new readings brought our usage back down to what it was previously so were doing to credit our account back and lower the payments. They acknowledged our meter is also really hard to read and the reading wasn't clear from the photos they had taken so they will replace it with a better one.

I'm hoping it was just a misread and all will settle down now! Thanks for all your tips and advice.

This is all really useful advice, I'm having similar problems. Thank you

We have just had a HUGE water bill increase. It turns out that SE Water had subcontracted the meter reading job out to a company who hadn't done it properly and so everyone on our street (and I assume further afield) is now facing bills of between £500 - £1000+ because they had not been correctly read for over 2 years. They also claimed to have photos of our meter readings, but when I looked at our meter it was absolutely filthy and had about a cm of dirt over the digits - so there was no way that anyone had been taking photos or correct readings - when we asked them to provide them, they couldn't. We have told them that as it's taken them 2 years to get the billing right, we're going to take 2 years to pay them back.....

Our leak was underground in the garden so wasn't noticeable, turn off water at the stopcock then look at the meter if it is still running you have a leak.