Water meter? DON'T

It all seems like a postcode lottery.

Thank you to GNers. My water is supplied by Affinity Water and I've just looked up any discounts I might be able to claim.

I've discovered that there's a cap for people with a low income and even a further discount for people who receive Council Tax support. I don't receive Pension Credit, but I might fit the other categories - going to check now and I'll let you know how I get on. Maybe others should check too.

PS. How come Affinity Water didn't tell me about this, even though my inbox is full of emails from them?

Oh noooo! Apparently, there's a separate scheme for waste water, which in my case is dealt with by Anglian Water.

Do they have people who dream up ways of making things as difficult as possible?

Notagranny44

I was under the impression that if you asked for a meter to be fitted, you could ask for it to be taken out again if you had not had it longer than 12 months. Maybe I've got that wrong! We're with Welsh Water and pay £73 a month for the two of us.

Apparently they can't fit us a meter because the stopcock on the hydrant is brass (I have no idea why that is a problem!).

Ask if you can be charged the average amount two people on a water meter would pay. Although ours has just gone up by quite a high percentage, I don't think it's that much per month.

Hmm hmm!

This is daft. I don't usually look at the breakdown of my bill, so this thread has been useful.

I've discovered that over the past six months I've used £34.20 of clean water and my waste has cost £52.09.

(I've used much less than the cap, so I'm not eligible for that.)

However, how come I'm paying £30 a month for my water? My bill is just less than half of that. No wonder I've received a refund. I'd rather pay less in the first place. And how come my bill is so little compared with others? (Not that I'm complaining).

Before anybody thinks I don't use any water and must be really dirty, I have a shower most days, clean my teeth twice a day, wash my hands a few times every day, use the washing machine two or three times a week and the dishwasher every day or two days and flush the toilet as needed. That's fairly normal, I think.

This is nuts!

I rang Yorkshire water yesterday to say I thought our water bill was too much. It’s £85 for the two of us. He said to check the water meter, we were both on our hands and knees outside but we can’t see any numbers.
I phoned back, they said they’d come out to check it but it’s going to cost £80 !
He did say it’s on the high side for two people. I’m going to ask my son if he’d have a look for us next time he’s here.

I'm going to check ours forensically!!

According to my bank account, my bill has gone up by £6 since April, but the amount it says we will be charged pm is £13 less than it says we are supposed to be paying.
e.g. went from £20 to £26. “Your future bills will be £26”
But
“your charges are £39 pm”
It also lists my meter readings as “read by you”. We have never read the meter, as it’s down a hole in the pavement.
Confused? I am.

It also lists my meter readings as “read by you”. We have never read the meter, as it’s down a hole in the pavement.
😂😂😂

Oh dear, I choked on my glass of water, sorry, I meant wine!

The people “in charge” of the different water companies seem to be at the helm of some enormous farce. The whole kit and caboodle is a scandalous.

Ps most if not all social/council housing has a water meter.

There's a Dancing Dicks Lane in Witham, Essex. (Hope that's not too rude.)

growstuff

There's a Dancing Dicks Lane in Witham, Essex. (Hope that's not too rude.)

Sorry! Wrong thread!

Mollygo

According to my bank account, my bill has gone up by £6 since April, but the amount it says we will be charged pm is £13 less than it says we are supposed to be paying.
e.g. went from £20 to £26. “Your future bills will be £26”
But
“your charges are £39 pm”
It also lists my meter readings as “read by you”. We have never read the meter, as it’s down a hole in the pavement.
Confused? I am.

It's bonkers, isn't it? I think they just have some kind of random number generator and charge customers what they want - unless somebody complains.

I paid £15 per month for years, I'm with Thames water. Since the recent increase I'm paying £20 per month.
I'm a one person household.

The people “in charge” of the different water companies seem to be at the helm of some enormous farce. The whole kit and caboodle is a scandalous.

I agree.

It's unco-ordinated, companies might be privatised but, unlike other companies, there is no choice for customers. The whole system is a complete mess.

Yes, it's scandalous.

Allira

^and I cant get rid of the meter^

Why? I'd be on to them again!
You should be on a special rate for a single-person household.

There's no such thing as single person rate ....and once you have requested a meter there is no obligation for a water board to remove...they have the right to refuse

It doesn’t sound right. We’re with Thames Water and there are 5 adults in this house. We’re paying £61 per month since the recent increase although this was based on an estimate which were certain is too high.

it looks as though there is no leak.
I didnt want to change after 12 months because it was a reasonable amount compared to similar houses with 2 or more people.It's only this year that it has nearly doubled.
I have not changed my lifestyle but according to them I have but I.m buggared if I know how,there is no hot tub or daily car washing here.

If you don’t already know a tip for reading the numbers on meters in difficult places, take a photo on your phone and then enlarge it.

When I lived in a 3 bedroom house 100+ miles away from where I live now . Even though on my own there where no water meters so I paid the same as my neighbours which in 2019 was £160.50 a month .

I moved to a 2 bed bungalow in 2019 have a combi boiler and water meter and this year I pay £30.85 a month .

I love having a combi boiler as no wasted hot water and saves money energy wise.

mokryna a man comes to read the meter which is underground at the bottom of my drive in October . So never have to read it myself. I couldn't in any case as I couldn't kneel down to read it .

lovingit If I understand you correctly, you went from £26 unmetered to £47 metered.

MoneySavingExpert have a chart of average charges per water company and price rises for 2025/26.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2024/12/water-bills-rise-england-wales-2025/

The average bill for United Utilities was £486 and will now be £598, a rise of 23% or £112 per year. That 23% ties in with your rise from £47 to £55 but that suggests above average use.

United Utilities provide comprehensive annual guides to explain how their charges work:

Current year:

www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/pdf/household-charges-scheme-2025-2026.pdf

Last year:

www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/pdf/household-charges-scheme-2024-25.pdf

If you don’t qualify for any of the special schemes e.g. low income or medical needs, jump to sections four and five.

Your bills should have a breakdown that you can tie to those numbers. Your pre-metered bills will show your rateable value.

What you need to take into account is the basic difference between the two systems.

Under a metered system, the variable is the amount of water used. The more water used, the higher the bill.

Under an unmetered system, the variable is the rateable value of the propery. The higher the rateable value, the higher the bill.

Therefore, under an unmetered system, someone living in a property with a higher rateable value is going to pay more than someone in a property with a lower rateable value even though their water usage may be the same. This is why it’s usually advantageous for people living in larger properties with high rateable values to be metred and may not be advantageous for those in smaller properies with lower rateable values. I wonder if that is the case here.

Domestic rateable value is based on an assessment of a property's estimated annual rental value. The last comprehensive assessment of domestic properties for rateable values happened in 1973, with some amendments and additions up to 1990. In other words, your rateable value may take no account of rent rises over the last 35 years or longer. Water companies do take this into with higher fixed charges for unmetered water and may make other adjustments - see 5.1.1.

United Utilties covers the north west of England. If you have eliminated the possibility of a meter malfunction or a leak, I’d hazard a guess that the reason your bill is higher now could be that you were getting a good deal under the unmetered system due to your house having a low rateable value.

All that said, £55 a month does sound high. I’m a single occupant and use water carefully using about 40 cubic litres a year. I’m in a region where the average bill is slightly higher than United Utilities. My estimated bill for this calendar year is £400 (two thirds of average use) so I currently pay £33 a month metered.

A cubic litre is a 1000 litres or 220 gallons. A 1000 litres is about 12 baths or 28 showers or 14 machine washes.

That is ridiculously high. There are two of us and our monthly charge on a meter is £8.50. It is much cheaper than not being metered.

I think the price of water has doubled for many households, so maybe the meter is not the problem.

Sounds to me like you might have a leak somewhere.

Ours went up from £26 to £44. I think you will find that Thames Water are putting everyone’s payments up to pay for the terrible state they are in. However the accompanying letter just described how much water drinking tea takes etc. No mention of the real reason so no honesty there but as long as the shareholders are happy and the bosses are paid really well I suppose we should just drink less tea and hope they fix more leaks.