Water meter? DON'T

I should have said that we have a water meter which is read remotely by Severn Trent.

We pay £22.46 per month for water and waste with Severn Trent. There are 2 of us in the apartment and we are careful, although just recently I am having to water the plants in the pots on my balcony fairly frequently. Don't forget the wartime adage, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down". Not very nice but practical

My neighbour only found out that he had a leak because his water bill was very high so he turned the stop cock off for 12 hours and the meter was still clicking over.

Georgesgran

Interesting NannyC1 May I ask who is your supplier?

Here, Northumbrian Water have some schemes for low income customers and those in receipt of certain benefits, but not single occupancy. Their rationale is that a single person would use less and have a lower charge as a result. I pay around £30 a month - big house, but I can only use one bath at a time!

Out of interest, does your provider just accept your word, or is it confirmed by the electoral roll?

Same here Georgesgran, but as I explained above, my bill is below the cap anyway. I think I would be eligible, but it's not worth applying. There's nothing specifically for singe occupancy, as far as I can tell.

I was thinking of applying for one to trial. I'm with Welsh Water and my monthly DD has just gone up to £76 from £57, ridiculous, and you should see the crap they're pumping out into the Wye. You can revert back to unmeasured bills within two years if it doesn't save money

No meter here but this years bill went up by a whopping 350 odd pounds... I looked at a meter as we hardly use any either, but after filling in the usual usage per week for everything it wasn't any different in price soI am not switching to one, it feel like daylight robbery though

Contact The Ombudsman or Citizens Advice as that does not seem right?? Have yougot a 1 person household discount applied? Good luck

I was paying £77 per month without a meter, got one fitted and now pay £30 per month, it sounds as though there’s a fault somewhere with yours sadly

Interesting NannyC1 May I ask who is your supplier?

Here, Northumbrian Water have some schemes for low income customers and those in receipt of certain benefits, but not single occupancy. Their rationale is that a single person would use less and have a lower charge as a result. I pay around £30 a month - big house, but I can only use one bath at a time!

Out of interest, does your provider just accept your word, or is it confirmed by the electoral roll?

Thames water is now £44+ for a single person in a flat..

Obviously we should all be charged accurately for the water we use so meters are a no-brainer. I used to live next door to a chap who washed cars for a living. He turned the hose on at 8.00 in the morning and it only went off when his last client left at the end of the day. Obviously he declined a water meter !

NannyC1

Georgesgran There is a single occupancy water rate because I m on it.

Hope you don't mind my asking, but who is your supplier? And do you have a meter or not? It seems that both make a difference.

you should have Thames Water as your supplier.
meter out in the road, and they told me, a disabled pensioner to go check it when I queried my charges..

Water is a rip off.. sorry, I try not to get angry, but...

My new monthly payments are £44.75 and I live in a flat and don't have a meter…So I would imagine yours is slightly more due to your garden..

1summer

I am astounded at the low amount you all pay for water/sewerage. My bill from Severn Trent went up last month to £132 per month. I did resist having a water meter fitted as I live in a large 2 bedroom house which I want to sell.
But I have now asked for a water meter and been told this should reduce my monthly bill to approximately £70. I hope so!!

Sorry 4 bedrooms

I am astounded at the low amount you all pay for water/sewerage. My bill from Severn Trent went up last month to £132 per month. I did resist having a water meter fitted as I live in a large 2 bedroom house which I want to sell.
But I have now asked for a water meter and been told this should reduce my monthly bill to approximately £70. I hope so!!

Georgesgran There is a single occupancy water rate because I m on it.

Lathyrus3

Well, it’s interesting to see the differences in what water authorities charge.

Ours does a single household reduction but Anglia Water (used to live in that area) doesn’t and the charges for unmetered seem to be astronomical. The OPs £55 a month metered would still be saving her £££££.

This can’t be right, can it? That water, the most basic of human needs, is a major, almost unaffordable expense for some in some parts of the+country.

Yes, we have Anglian Water and the bill's just gone up to just over £96 a month.
I'm having a water meter put in tomorrow.
My friend and her husband up the road only pays £35 a month.
I was told on the phone when i ordered that you have to use the meter for 2 years but the surveyor said you can cancel at any time and go back as before and get the standard monthly bill. so don't know.
I would think the water company can detect leaks because they contacted my relative and said there was a leak somewhere and there was. Something to do with the toilet. She got a plumber out to fix it. not with that water company. Anglian Water text her afterwards and thanked her for dealing with problem so they must be able to detect leaks somehow.

Are you able to check your usage online, we are with Anglian water, they have recently changed our old meter for meters that connect with an app where I can see our usage everyday if I want to. I do agree your charges seem heavy, I pay on average just over £40 monthly, that for me and my son who despite my nagging like long showers after a day of heavy manual work. We also use a dishwasher and washing machine.

When my late husband died in 2008 our water bill was £500.00. I decided to try the water meter for 12 months, my bill for that year was £190.00 a saving of £300.00. This year I pay Welsh Water £18.60 a month, £224.00 approx Ho
w you are paying such a huge sum is beyond me. You should have the meter checked, also check if there is a leak..

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.

Sounds to me like you might have a leak somewhere.

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

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.

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.