Water meters

I have a water meter and live alone . I’m very conscious of water usage and I save whenever I can . I received a letter yesterday congratulating me on my reduction of usage and for my efforts they are putting up my bill by £4 a month!! This is Thames Water with one of the worst records of leaks and of emptying effluent into the Thames regularly .I’m sure the shareholders will appreciate the increased prices to all their customers .

We finally got a water meter last year. Our payments went from £72 pm to £11 pm. Wish we’d done it before.

Don’t talk to me about Thames Water. Practically every main road in the area has road works where they dig up the road and then leave it with no apparent work being done for weeks - the traffic chaos is terrible. Plus they reduced our water pressure “to avoid leaks” without telling us so no one in the street could have a shower. It was only after repeated complaints that something was done about it. They have smashed our water meter and haven’t replaced it so I’ve no idea what our bills will be. The smart meters have been implicated in burglaries - they can tell when people aren’t using any water . People who can hack the system and use that information. What is the point of privatisation of a monopoly- we don’t have a choice of a better water company - the sooner water is renationalised the better - some of the billions given to shareholders could be spent on actual improvements to the system. Rant over.

Calendargirl

Ailsa43

I can't have a water meter here, because it's not a suitable property for it to be fitted for some reason I"m not clear about, my husband knows more, but even with only 2 of use here we pay more than my AC who has a water meter

If you are not able to have a water meter fitted, for whatever reason, you can ask your water company to assess how much better off you would be if you could have one, and they can redo your bills based on that.

A friend was in this position, someone came out and agreed yes, not possible to have a meter as she was on a shared system with neighbour. She now pays about £200 a year less for her water, under the estimated bill..

This is in England, not sure if it applies elsewhere.

These posts on water meter threads about not being able to have one always puzzle me!

I had a meter installed about 15 years ago - live in a ground floor flat and the meter is internal, inside the cupboard where the immersion tank was. I've just measured it - it's cylindrical 6" long with a 4" diameter and is next to the where the old stopcock was.

I am hostile to compulsory water meters as those with larger families/disabilities are disadvantaged.

I feel sufficient water should be a universal right.

Some people are already in water poverty and try to ration usage to lower bills. There are problems here - leading to poor hygiene, problems with smelly clothes (and social exclusion - especially for school children). I have experienced this in my working life alongside poverty with electric/gas.

www.water.org.uk/publication/water-poverty-analysis/

Should the rest of us subsidise the water consumption of large families or the disabled or indeed anyone NotSpaghetti? Water can’t be provided free of charge any more than energy can. Paying for what we actually use encourages all of us not to waste. We wouldn’t expect an unmetered supply of electricity would we?

NotSpaghetti

I am hostile to compulsory water meters as those with larger families/disabilities are disadvantaged.

I’m opposed to any compulsory meters, especially after reading reports of people going into homes uninvited to install them.

I do know my disabled daughter’s water bill went down when they had a water meter installed, but I don’t know about large families.
The decrease in my water bill from pre-meter to post meter means I was paying around £60pm to support other people’s water usage for a very long time.

I feel sufficient water should be a universal right. Agreed, though
Sufficient would need to be determined.

A basic right to sufficient water to cook, clean, wash clothes and deal with personal hygiene would be great.

What other usage would people include in the sufficient water and how could it be organised?

SynchroSwimmer

I believe it’s standard for all new properties now have water meters…

That's correct and so it should be. We have a water meter which was installed by a previous owner and we pay far less than other couples in identical properties on the same road.

Having a water meter does make you more aware of usage too. We have several water butts in the garden for watering veggies etc, we capture the first run off from the hot tap until the boiler kicks in and decides to produce hot water - this is then dispatched to the water butts. It is very, very rare that we have to use tap water to fill watering cans for the garden or to fill a bucket to wash the car.

Should the rest of us subsidise the water consumption of large families or the disabled - yes, Germanshepherdsmum - if they are in poverty and we are not.

I would far rather subsidise water (and sewerage) for poorer people, care homes, NHS providers, and schools (in fact to reduce bills for everyone in England) than, as is the case presently, 20% of my (all of our) water bills servicing the debt of water companies (average per bill according to the Competitions and Markets Authority).

Ofwat data shows that the water companies have debt of £53.9 billion, all run up since privatisation in 1989. At that point, the nationalised water board’s debts (of £5bn) were written off, and the new companies were given £1.5bn of public money.

The gearing for these debts is seriously problematic, with ratios of debt to capital value from 60% to more than 80%, according to Ofwat data, which makes the majority of water companies financially unstable - and which makes comparisons of ‘oh but £5bn in 1989 is now worth… ’ meaningless unless you can show the gearing for the water board then.

I particularly object to paying for the choices of overseas private equity companies (who own the majority of English water companies, many of whom do not pay tax in the UK ) who have, it appears, gone for this high level of debt to pay dividends (around £66 billion since privatisation), rather than to fund investment (analysis of this by University of Greenwich, SOAS et al ).

All the people not on meters, are subsidising the water consumption of others. If I could have had one since 1990 I’ve been subsidising for a long time.
If I remember correctly non-metered water bills are based on the rateable value of the house. Live in a nice house, nice area, higher rates, higher water costs.
Or, not so nice house, not so nice area, lower rates, lower water costs,
regardless of how many people lived in the house, how careful they were with water usage, and whatever the income of the occupants.

I never realised what a saving I would make.

Certainly it makes approaching retirement look easier and I’ll appreciate those subsidising me on my vastly reduced income.

Calendargirl

I think that every home should have a water meter, and pay
for what you actually use.

We would think it odd if we didn’t pay for what electricity or gas we used as individual households.

Why is water any different?

Because clean water is essential to life.

NotSpaghetti

^Should the rest of us subsidise the water consumption of large families or the disabled^ - yes, Germanshepherdsmum - if they are in poverty and we are not.

So to take that to its logical conclusion, those of us who are better off should pay a higher tariff for gas and electricity?

The poor are already subsidised by the better off through their taxes. The better off pay more taxes on their salaries and as they buy more things, they pay more tax on the things they buy. Electricity, gas, and water should be charged at the same rate to everyone. I don’t agree with water meters because clean water is essential to life. In a civilised society we should be able to provide clean water without rationing it to everyone.

We don’t ration water use by meters, we measure it and people pay according to what they use. The metering system encourages people to think about the water they use, just as more than ever we think about how much electricity we use. We are a two-person household and our water company recently told us that our water consumption was about the same as the average single person household. I was very surprised about that. I can only assume that some people waste a great deal of water.

Climate activists would argue that those who are self indulgent (or feckless) enough to have large families are squandering the resources of the planet and being subsidised by those who are more considerate of the environment.

biglouis

Climate activists would argue that those who are self indulgent (or feckless) enough to have large families are squandering the resources of the planet and being subsidised by those who are more considerate of the environment.

Only if they wash them @biglouis

There is a scheme for people with certain disabilities and/or on certain benefits.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/water-supply/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/watersure-scheme-help-with-paying-water-bills/

I thought all new homes had water meters nowadays. This house has always had one.

Having lived onboard for 20 years which necessitates filling your tanks, I’m still very conscious of water usage even though it’s been over 20 years since we left that life.
The same with electricity as every watt had to be generated by solar or wind.

They do, Blossoming. It’s been the case for a good many years and there was no excuse for OP’s daughter not knowing her new home would have a water meter - it’s been a standard question on those boring conveyancing forms for ages. Unless they have a very large family, a constant flow of guests, use the mains supply to endlessly water their garden or simply don’t care how much water they waste, people are much better off with a meter,

We used to pay £57 per month and I had never thought about changing to a meter until our water company said it would be cheaper. I clean our drive and patio each year and water the garden when necessary so was a little concerned at what the cost would be on a meter.
The lady said based on last year it would be £25 a month, I couldn't believe it. We are now on a meter and we get 2 years to make up our minds if we still want to stay on it. So it's a win win for us.