High water bills

[Bill]

Just received a water bill for £171 covering the last 6 months (actually 191 days). Actual water consumed over this period was 133 cubic metres i.e. about 700 litres / day, which seems awfully high if the average adult supposedly uses 150 litres / day. There are 2 adults in the house, though my wife is at home all day looking after our 6 month old and I am also at home for half of each week. Even considering this I find the bill somewhat high.

The water meter reading agrees with the bill, so wondering if there was a leak I turned off the main inside the house and noticed that the '0.0001' (one ten-thousandth of a cubic metre) dial on the meter was still rotating slowly. It took 110 seconds to complete one rev, which by my calculations means it would have racked up about 15 cubic metres over the course of the 191 day billing period even with the main inside the house turned off. I did however notice that my neighbour's meter does pretty much the same thing.

Has anybody noticed their meter doing this i.e. is it normal, and what size bills do others get over 6 months?

Bill

[Mike Hibbert]

I used to be on a meter, and when the taps and everythign were off, the meter did not move at all. It sounds like you have a leak.

Mike

[Harry Ziman]

You have a leak. Walk the route of your pipe to see if there are any damp places (not easy with the current weather!) but your water company should detect and repair the leak for free. You can also argue about the bill with them, and check your insurance which may cover you although the figures involved may be too small to bother with.

[Ed Sirett]

1) Has the washing machine suddenly had a wake up call when the babe arrived?

2) The water meter may be showing the last bit of dripping into a cistern (WC or loft). The rate is about an egg cup a minute give or take.

The consumption is high, 4 adults and 1 kid get through about 100 m^2 in six months here and I and SWMBO have full baths (seperate water!) every day.

[IMM]

Unless passing, he turned off the main c*ck. Nothing should move on the meter.

The meter is in a garden I would dig up around the meter and install a stop c*ck just after the meter. The water company can also fit a stop c*ck/water meter arrangement. See:

[IMM]

From the meter onwards is yours. Or from the curtlidge.

[David Hearn]

Many water companies will repair the first leak to occurr on your property for free - but some don't, and subequent leaks are not free to repair. For example, pipe which it perforating and leaking in 1 place will be repaired - but not completely replaced. If its perforating, then it'll fail again somewhere else.

D

Harry Ziman wrote:

[chris French]

It certainly is high. We have 2 adults, and 1 almost 3 year old child. People at home everyday except for 2 days a week. We have a garden, with GH's hanging baskets etc. Our average consumption for a quarter is something like 50 m^3.

The last bill for August to October was 42.

No our meter doesn't show anything running once everything is closed down.

It is possible the meter is faulty - about 15 months ago they contacted us because the meter reading was very high - I forget but it was certainly well over 100 m^3. They said they would investigate for us. They checked first for leaks, though I'd already done that anyway, and then said they would replace the meter, compare readings for the old and new meter and then make an adjustment if it seemed the old one had been misreading.

It's taken while, as they were very quick at anything, but were are just awaiting the adjusted readings now.