Smart Water Meter - Do you have one?

Always had a water meter in this house. Changed to smart meter couple of years ago.

So you learn something everyday it doesnt matter how many people are in the house the sewerage goes by the size of the house hence the reason mine is expensive even though there is only me going to the loo but a family of six living in a small house could be paying less that’s not fair is it ?

I have had an ordinary water meter for a long time which did reduce my bills.
It is outside on the pavement and I have to do nothing exept receive and pay the bill.
Never heard of a 'smart' water meter but really don't see any advantage.
I don't have a 'smart' fuel meter either. I use what energy I
need and am the same with the water.
As long as you are aware and careful of your useage don't give in.

There was also an article in one of the papers, I can't remember which, that showed that your power could also be cut of remotely. They've never told us that before

I wont have smart meters for my gas and electric for that reason. I dont trust these companies either.

My water meter is outside under the pavement near my front gate. If they want to change it they can go ahead without coming into the property.

Too far off the road, I don't have a meter at all!

I don't trust the electricity companies with smart meters.

Over Christmas companies were reducing prices for those who used less electricity, as registered by the smart meter. This, to me, means they can also increase the price based on smart meter readings.

There was also an article in one of the papers, I can't remember which, that showed that your power could also be cut of remotely. They've never told us that before.

Sorry, there is not a cat in hells chance of my chosing to have a smart meter.

We chose to have a water meter about 8 years ago. Initially, the bills were around £20 a month, for about 5 years. We did not change our usage and suddenly they shot up to £35 a month. We put up with it and six months later they went back to £20. By then we were considerably in credit and requested a refund. We got no response. We have never read the meter (under the footpath, way way down in the dark) and never seen anyone read it, but the bills indicate whether Customer or Water authority read. Several say Customer!! Also several of those read by the Water Authority are lower than their previous readings!!!!

In March 2023 the reading said Water Authority read and the bills was increased from £20-something to £58!!! During the previous six months we had been away for 3 weeks in the UK, plus 3 days over Christmas and - wait for it - 101 days on a World Cruise. So how did we use such a lot of water? No-one at home, no heating (left on but as low as is sensible), no baths, no dishwasher or washing machine, no garden to water - not even any being drunk? At the next bill in October the charge went down to £16 a month - a drop of £42. No explanation, and we were by then in credit by over £700. We are still waiting 9 months on for the promised refund.

Affinity Water recently installed compulsory meters in my area. Just outside driveway, no interference when installed. Currently paying £30 a month. Before it was something like £70 a month. So far, so good, for big brother!

We've had a water meter for years and it's saved a lot of money. It's at the back of a kitchen cupboard where the water pipe comes into the house. Fitting it to the stop cock outside the front gate in the pavement would have been expensive because our pipework is imperial. It's read automatically by Yorkshire Water. The stop cock is in the same cupboard so no need to go out into the street if the water needs turning off. I didn't know there are smart meters for water.

I've never had to read my water meter thank goodness, as it's at the back of a cupboard under the sink, under an immovable shelf. There is no way I could ever get down there to read that. So I assume mine is a smart meter as they always seem to know how much I have used and adjusted the DD accordingly. My bills are reasonable at £22 per month for a 2 bed bungalow.

Old proud, I hope we’ve all learnt our lesson then and refrain from commenting if we haven’t experienced exactly what the OP asks on any thread.
I didn’t even know that non-smart water meters were an option, but how I discovered what difference a smart water meter would make to me was by contacting the water authority. They were only able to give me a comparative answer (a similar house with similar occupants) as our water was based on the house band.
OP, if you have a meter, consult your water authority. They’ll be much more accurate.
The only difference a smart meter would make is if your current home meter is faulty or your readings have been inaccurate. Since that’s unlikely, you’d really just be saving yourself the job of sending a reading.

Retired65

We have a water meter but it is outside. I am not sure if it is a smart one though.

If it is a smart meter, no one ever needs to come to read it, as the readings are transmitted wirelessly to your supplier - that is the 'smart' bit. Otherwise, it is an ordinary meter, but as long as either you or someone employed by your supplier to do the job takes readings as necessary and sends them to the supplier, which of these meters you have should make little or no difference to your bill, so it doesnt really matter that you don't know which sort it is.

Most people posting on this thread seem to be comparing their bills after installation of a meter (of either kind) with their bills when they had no meter whatsoever.
However, that isn't what the OP asked - she wanted to know if there would be any benefit to her of changing from an ordinary meter to a smart one, not the benefit of having a meter as opposed to having no meter whatsoever.
I bet she is feeling very frustrated by now .

We have a water meter but it is outside. I am not sure if it is a smart one though.

mistymitts

I may have this all wrong but when we changed to a smart water meter outer bill was considerably less. With an ordinary meter they take into account the number of bedrooms in a house and charge accordingly. So if there are many of you then keep the ordinary meter, if only one or two people, have a smart meter and only pay for what you use. I may have this all wrong as previously we had no meter, just a water bill.

misty with any water meter, smart or not, you only pay for what you use.
The savings are made when swapping from the old bills which are estimated on the size of the house (rateable value) to a meter.

With a Smart meter you can keep an eye on your usage and cut back if you want. The main difference is that there doesn't need to be a meter reader.

If you have a leak and a water meter phone the water board you are under straight away. Otherwise you will have a hefty bill. I had a leak under my sink and I told them when it started and once it was fixed . I had lost £40 of water which I didn't have to pay. I couldn't reach the stop tap. They where very understanding and helpful I am with United utilities.

I may have this all wrong but when we changed to a smart water meter outer bill was considerably less. With an ordinary meter they take into account the number of bedrooms in a house and charge accordingly. So if there are many of you then keep the ordinary meter, if only one or two people, have a smart meter and only pay for what you use. I may have this all wrong as previously we had no meter, just a water bill.

United Utilities fitted one in the pavement outside our bungalow in December without telling us. They also fitted a flow restrictor. The first we knew about it was when we went to the hot tap and found the pressure/flow was so low that the boiler wouldn't light for water but was ok for heating as it's a pressurised combi-boiler. We rang UU to ask if they were working in the area and they immediately said we'd probably got air in the pipes and should close and open the stopcock several times. This achieved nothing and we called out our heating engineer who said it was due to low pressure. Another call to UU brought out another engineer who identified the problem and removed the flow restrictor and fitted a new smart meter to replace the old, broken one which had been damaged by the subcontractor who had fitted the flow restrictor earlier in the day without telling us. The 2nd UU engineer said that the Smart feature only benefits the meter reader who can do it without lifting the cover in the pavement. We were really annoyed that they don't call bother to let you know they are tampering with your supply

I received a letter a few weeks ago telling me they'd put one in. First I heard about it!

We had one installed a couple of years ago. I went on-line to look at the readings, you can see your usage by month/day/hour, and I discovered we were using water 24/7! Turned out we had a leak at the back of the downstairs toilet, but because it was below the floorboards it wasn't noticeable. It was leaking 2 litres an hour, which we were paying for!
I now check it monthly and a couple of months back noticed we had been using water 24hrs for the last couple of days, turns out I had left the garden hose tap turned on and there was a leak in the hose reel connection. So it has it's advantages

I'm on a water meter with Severn Trent and my latest 6 monthly bill for water and sewerage was £93.19.It would be even less if I didn't use more than half the water outside for my horses etc.

Yes me too. Our water bill was £77 a month, it’s £35 since I had the water meter fitted and I am in credit. The two lads that came couldn’t find the external stop cock so the scanned and found it. It took about 15 mins to fit and the put the garden back to how it was. This was Yorkshire Water.

After a couple of occasions where we've left the hosepipe not fully turned off and it has dripped the equivalent of a monsoon, then, no, we have never been tempted to install a water meter, smart or not.

I also prefer a bath to a shower. And there have also been occasions where a tap has been left running/dripping, and once where we had a leak.

Pre smart meter, United Utilities (water/waste water) used to charge us £72 per month. Now we pay under £11 per month. We never had the option for a non-smart meter.

Compulsory with Anglian Water to chamge from manual reading meter to smart meter. On first reading (after 8 months our usage was zero - hadn't been connected properly. I had to phone them to point out that the fault, as the computer hadn't noticed that something was wrong. Happily they wrote off that period, rather than giving an estimated bill.