Water Meters

[privateb]

Hi guys what is your opinion on water meters do you have one? Do you find it cheaper than it was before?
We are thinking of changing too one quite a few of the houses on our close have which can only be a good sign.
There is just 2 of us in my house we share bath water - but do have a dishwasher and washinging machine which probably get used every day!

Any input would be good, Thanks

[Hom3r]

How old are you?

If you've had kids and they flown the coup, or not planning any then it may be worth looking into.

If you are planning kid then avoid it, my sister has a meter in the house she's in, and she's paying more than she did in her last house that didn't

[Acathla]

Fitting a meter cut my bill in half. 2 of us in the house.

General rule they say is if you have more bedrooms than people get one fitted, else stick to metered water.
When we moved to a meter, we did have a 60 day (i think) trial period which we could switch back if we wanted.

[dave6x]

Without knowing all the facts about your property, old "ratable value" on which water charge is levied, your pattern of water useage it is diffficult to say. In this area Southern Water provide a rough guide on their website, see link, maybe your water authority does too?

https://www.southernwater.co.uk/Dome...YouBenefit.asp

That said, having been brought up in an area where waters meters were fitted at domestic premises as standard for many years,they make people far more aware of water usage and reduce wastage and I believe should be fitted as standard as for other utilities like electricity and gas.

Interestingly several years ago on moving with a family of 5 from from a 4 bed house in a metered area to a 4 bed house in an unmetered area I actually paid more for my annual water bills. Recently had a meter fitted in my current house my annual bill for first year is approximately 60% of the of the previous unmetered year!

When my son lived alone in a 2 bed flat after a meter was fitted he paid less than 30% of unmetered charges for the year, in fact because he'd just paid his half year water charge up-front he was in credit for well over a year after the meter was fitted.

[Jelly Bean]

I have a water meter put in about 5 years ago.

In my area the bills is nearly £350 a year.

My bill is around £70-£100 per year due to water meter so that is one good saving for me.

If you have a larger family a meter is no good.But lets say you have 2 adults and 1 child then yes it is worth it.

Or a single parent with 2 children again a meter is worth it.

If I only saved £50 a year then I am £50 better off.

I am at home with one child.However my washing machine is proberly on at least 10 times per week.We bath every day.If you have a shower then using this would save on water.I was worried about having a meter and tried to use less water but hey its there to be used.

If I use the above max £100 per year then 2 adults with 2 children would proberly use around £200 per year.

Was this not made mandatory for all new build homes to have water meters fitted?But having a meter fitted at the moment it is not mandatory to actualy have a metered bill.Not that I know of any way,I could be slightly wrong there.

I do know if I did not like the metered bill I could return to the standard bill with no problems.

[g0mit]

I had a meter fitted 2 years ago and it saved me at least 50% , 2 of use in 3bed house

[altis]

About 5 or so years ago, United Utilities contacted us to ask if we would join an experiment to find out how we used water. They came and fitted a meter and a logging device then, every 6 months or so, came and downloaded the logger. We never got to see a profile of our water usage but they did explain that, if we went onto a meter, our water bills would nearly double. I found this surprising as there is only two of us but I guess our rateable value is quite low.

We never went onto meter charging even when, a few years ago, they came and took us off the old lead common supply pipe and connected us the the new Alkathene mains.