Water bill keeps going up- leak?

[MakeMineStrong]

Our bill keeps going up. Could we have a leak - I suppose my question is how could I establish if we have a leak? What trade would I call for advice or would the water company look into it?

Quick easy test is locate your stop cock, make sure nothing is drawing water and leave it off over night take a meter reading when you turn it off and again in the morning, if it has moved you have a leak somewhere

my bill has just gone from 73 to 123 a month. No increase in usage, that’s just the unit price increasing. Thanks Thames Water.

Compare your billed usage and see if it has increased.

Without actual readings, any figures are meaningless.

Are you on a meter? If not, it won't be down to leakage (there is no way of determining you actually have a leak) and it will purely be down to billing increases.
If you are on a meter, look at old bills and see if your usage is constant.
To determine if you have a leak, turn off the internal stopcock and check the meter, it should be static. To ensure you don't have an internal leak, turn on the stopcock, make sure no taps, cisterns, dishwasher etc are on and check the meter again.

If you have a smart meter (lots do now) then you can logon to your water account and look at an hour by hour reading. If you constantly have a flow then you have a leak. Otherwise, as per some above you can turn off your stopcock (under the sink usually) and see if your outside meter is still running. If you have a leak and it’s not obvious then you’ll need a plumber or other similar specialising in leak detection. Google will have your back here. It will be expensive however so brace yourself for that.

I second this. I thought our usage had gone up massively - nope, just the cost. Usage has stayed the same. Check how much you’re actually using, not just the overall bill cost before you start worrying about a leak.

Thank you! Now I need to locate the meter 😂 I think it’s on the pavement somewhere.

how would I find comparative data about water usage?

If you are on a meter you should be able to identify a leak quite easily.

1. Turn off your internal stop tap.
2. Go out to the meter and look to see if there is any movement on the dials
3. If there is then the leak has got to be somewhere between the meter and the house. (This is called the service pipe). Some water companies will repair it , otherwise contact your insurance company.
4. Turn the internal stop tap back on. Leave absolutely everything that uses water turned off. 5. Go back out to the meter. If the dials are moving then it's inside the house it's a job for a plumber/competent DIY enthusiast. Have a look at cistern and header tank overflows/washing machine and dishwasher connections too.

You can check your usage by looking back at previous bills.