Knowledgable People
I am wondering if I am getting ripped off for my water bills, I am paying 40 quid a month, more than my leccie and gas added together.
Is this a normal ammount for 2 adults and 2 kids, or should I get a meter fitted .........
Thanks Rick
I suggest you're being ripped off.
We (2 adults, 4 children) use about 250M^2 per year at £1.02 each (combined water and sewerage charge). And we don't economise.
When you add standing charges it's about £25/month.
IIRC you can buy a water meter from
David
Unless you have a meter the charges are based on the Council Tax band of your house. I used to pay about 40 quid a month, after the (free) fitting of a meter it dropped to 21 quid. There are only two of us though.
Ring the water company - they are obliged by law to fit a free meter if you ask. Note, however, you can never go back to the un-metered state.
I believe that you can go back to unmetered at any time in the 12 months following the fitting of a meter, but if a meter has been fitted, for the next owners of the property the only choice will be metered water, or no water.
If you haven't got a meter fitted, then AFAIK it doesn't matter how many folk you have using water, isn't the amount proportional to the size of home/garden and whether you tell them you use a hosepipe and/or sprinkler?
I'd be interested to know how they come up with figures; at least with council tax they tell you what band you are, and you can compare your banding to other properties s to help you decide if its right. I don't know how/if you can do that with water, other than opt for a meter.
David
The message from Another Dave contains these words:
Strictly speaking (except for new builds) the charge is based on the rateable value of your house at the time CT was introduced. AFAIK with new builds they have some kind of fudge to produce a 'rateable value'.
However there seems to be plans afoot to do a CT revaluation to extract even more tax from householders under the guise of being fair and no doubt the rateable value link will soon disappear.
That is my understanding too (Severn Trent in case it varies across the country)
=A3480/year! We pay about =A3180/year to NW Water but that is un-metered= supply only as we don't have mains drainage. Even doubling it for sewage still gives =A3120 change...
Northumbrian Water will allow you to try a meter. If, after a year, you find you're paying more, you can revert to non-metering. However, the meter will be left installed, and a subsquent owner will be metered.
Wish I knew how to get my gas and electricity down to under £40-00 a month combined. 5 of us here and gas and electricity are £45 a month EACH averaged over the year.
In Wales, they have allready uped all the rateable values, and council tax bands.
Rick
Switch suppliers every year, heat the house to 18 degrees. Insulate - All decorating jobs start with working out how much insulation you can stuff in.
And train tje kids to turn things off - SHMBO is impossible to train, so kids go round after her .........
Rick
If you do get a meter fitted (I wouldn't - it puts off future housebuyers) also install a green water system at the same time to use rainwater for hoses and if possible flushing the loos.
That reminds me what I've been after for some time - has anybody ever seen a PIR that comes in a nice round brass package to match 12v halogen bulbs. Or something else nice looking (i.e. not a rectangular plastic box) ?
I've got a very long corridor using about 400W of the things and what I'd like to do is put sensors at each end on a couple of minutes timer to save them being left on all the time.
They have them in offices, or at least they do in a certain high street bank's offices .........
Rick
Put your own meter in for a while and analyse the potential savings (if any) before committing yourself
Yes - and in posh showrooms. But I can't seem to find them anywhere to actually buy.
How about a replacement switch, still a plastic box but at least not as ugly as a separate one:
What's the evidence for this? It wouldn't put me off and houses seem to sell with and without meters. I honestly don't think it's an issue. If it is they're daft, we've saved a huge amount on wter bills - and of course water itself (which was our intention) - since having a meter installed. We wouldn't go back to unmetered water.
That's an excellent idea. We collect roofwater for the garden, it's cheap and simple.
I'm still looking for a suitable grey water flushing system. Wanted one since 1990 when I saw them used in Canada.
We should pay for what we use, water isn't free - unless you collect it for yourself. But using processed drinking water for anything other than drinking is mad.
Mary
It is a bit of a non issue round here now, when you change the billing details on a property at sale time, they come and fit a meter automatically so you don't get the choice.
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