We’re moving to a house with a water meter

[Bobsyer]

We’re a family of five that currently pay £35 a month (United Utilities). In the searches it says the house we’re moving to is metered. I guess that makes sense as for years it’s been one person living there on her own - but we’re a family of five, two of whom are almost teens.

Can anyone offer any insight into how much it costs them on a meter?

Looks like despite starting the process in April we’ll have to pay stamp duty as the vendors solicitors have been so shit, and when I read this yesterday it immediately worried me. The house is much bigger so was expecting electricity and gas to be more expensive but hadn’t counted on water.

Everything about this move is stressing me out I’m getting so little sleep.

So - anyway. We obviously have a washing machine, we have a small dishwasher used at least once sometimes twice daily, daily showers for five - oh yes and there’s a garden too.

Am I going to be bankrupting myself to pay for water?!

@user1471530109 we’re only moving 2 miles away so unlikely to be much difference!

We pay twice a year January and July for fresh water and waste water , both are metered , two adults bath / shower daily , dishwasher every day washing machine most days
We pay approx £600 per annum
I'm not sure it's helps but I understood that any property that changes hands gets a water meter fitted , so nearly everyone is metered now anyway

@seasidehouse, you're the second person who's said that moving house triggers installation, yet I can't find anything online about it. Can you point me in the right direction please?

There's nothing on the UU website about moving triggering installation that I can find, for instance.

Ours is £45 per month.meters were compulsorily fitted in our Thames Water area two or three years ago. The are 3 or 4 of us at home (deep bath loving student only here in the holidays) - we all bathe or shower daily, run the dishwasher and the washing machine daily, occasionally water plants but rarely with a hose, usually a watering can. We're not particularly careful about it - we probably could bring it down if we had to.

We pay exactly the same as @seasidehouse - £550-600 pa - split in two instalments. We’re on a meter with Southern Water - three person household. We have a very large garden, which occasionally we need to water if it’s really hot and paddling pool gets filled a few times in the summer. Dishwasher and washing machine on daily.

I'm in the South East and pay £24 a month; I use the eco setting on the shower, eco on the washing machine, rain water for the garden and rarely use the dishwasher. When I moved into my house the water bills were £60.00 a month.

@NoWordForFluffy

Why would a water meter be installed when you move? I've not heard that one before.

It’s a govt thing. Locally the water company fitted them to every house, you had no choice. So we have a meter but we don’t pay metered rates. We had the choice to stay on rateable value or move to metered.

However when the house is sold the new people won’t have a choice.

Saying that we pay loads on RV…..about £60 a month for 3 of us. So not sure, maybe we’d be better off on a meter. I’ve done the calculator thing and it’s very close. So think we’ll stay on RV as then I’m not stressing about it.

@BlueFrog21

No, it’ll be fine. We are on a meter and pay £30 a month for a family of five including teens.

I bet that's not with united utilities?

www.mirror.co.uk/money/you-accept-water-meter-wont-14096209

Looks like it depends what area you live in and whether it’s classed as a “water stressed” area.

It's certainly not the case that moving triggers the installation of meter where we are. We spent hours looking for the water meter when we moved into our 1929 property at the beginning of July, only to realise it didn't have one.

I don't really see why metering is so contentious - paying for the water we use is a good way to make people think about water efficiency, which is just as important as energy efficiency.

@CovidCorvid

www.mirror.co.uk/money/you-accept-water-meter-wont-14096209

Looks like it depends what area you live in and whether it’s classed as a “water stressed” area.

I see from the article it's a 'right' for companies in these areas. So they could insist on it, but don't have to.

We're with South West Water. Two of us showering daily, washing machine running once a day (sometimes twice), likewise dishwasher. I pay £54 per month.

It's very expensive down here - something to do with having to have the facilities etc for when the population triples in the summer season.

Ah, yes. That would explain why I'd not heard of it up in the NW. Yet.

We pay £48 per month for 10 months with UU on rateable value.

Our water meter is massively expensive and we ended up with a huge debt because the water company decided to not review our account for a year and amend payments which was frustrating.

I pay £17 a month and until recently have been working as a childminder though just 2 of us at home.

Certainly sounds like some water companies have a right to insist on it but can choose whether to exercise the right. Round here they did exercise the right. I certainly couldn’t refuse the meter.

I think metering is fair as it takes account of usage - which is the way we pay general untility bills. For once single person households are not being penalised.
That said - I was previously living rurally on unmetered (welsh Water) and my bills based on council tax band were about the same (£200 pa ) as I currently pay for metered and did not cover waste water

I think metering is contentious because, unlike other utility supplies, there's no option to change supplier / shop around, so you're at the mercy of whatever price that one supplier charges. In addition, some of those suppliers don't actually seem very proactive at spending money to address leaks in the system, which waste huge volumes of water, whilst also charging high rates for normal domestic usage.

See if your supplier offers a capped rate Watersure tariff or similar. Yorkshire Water do reductions for households with 3 children or more, or any one with a medical condition that means they need to bathe more.

Ooh, they do: www.unitedutilities.com/watersure

I'm on a meter - 4 bed house with garden but I live alone. The meter is read twice a year but I pay monthly.
Shower pretty much daily, washing machine maybe twice a week, no dishwasher.
The main usage is watering the garden when it's hot - I have a hose that I use twice a week.
I'm with Affinity Water for 'clean' water & Thames Water for waste water & pay £20/month in total during the summer which goes down to £18/month in the winter.
Despite watering the garden I still use less water than my neighbours with children.

(And yes I do have 4 water butts in case of water shortages but when there's no hosepipe ban, I use the hose)

Just bare in mind with Watersure, while having 3 children or a medical condition that uses more water, often you also have to be in receipt of a means tested benefit, too. That might depend on the company.

We’re with UU and moved to a house with a meter,
Went from paying @£400 pa RV in our old house to paying @£700pa.

UU is one of the most expensive suppliers.

Things to consider:

Not flushing the toilet after a wee (this still makes me cringe!)
Water butts for the garden
If there’s only a few dishes to wash I boil a kettle now rather than let the water run to heat up
Just getting quick showers - I have mine cool due to hot flushes so I get straight in rather than letting the water run
Only doing full loads in the washing machine.

We tried getting rid of ours, but can't. Previous owner had it as it was just one person living there so made sense. If you've got children under 18 then your bill in a whole year will never go beyond a set amount. Also skin conditions such as eczema would have that discount applied