Something doesn't sound right. According to Wessex Water's website, a £1000 annual charge would require the use of 250m3.

http://www.wessexwater.c...ifier=id&itemid=220

That's 1057 gallons per week, equivalent to over 70 average baths. You're either very clean or have 8 people living on your spare room that you didn't know about.

You want to move to Yorkshire Water.

£20 per month for a single person, no garden.

By the way, it's "Fair" not "Fare". Fare is something you give to the ticket collector

I changed to a water meter several years ago. My wife live in a detached 4 bedroom house,we have a large garden with flowers,shrubs,lawns etc,a greenhouse,1,000 gallon fish pond which needs an annual clean out, and topping up from time to time, 2 cars which get washed sometimes, a conservatory which needs an annual clean, a water softener which uses about 30 gallons per recharge,twice a week, and a power shower. I pay £22 per month to South East Water, including Thames for sewage. I get the discount as surface water goes to soakaways.

I am saving easily 30% over my bills against the Rateable value, as indeed is my neighbour, who followed my recommendation. As far as I am concerned I would suggest a water meter every time.

Some meters are on the stopcock at the boundary, others, as is mine are on the rising main,in my case under the sink. This has an electronic link to a reader affixed to my wall on the front of the house. The meter reader only needs to pass by with some form of reader to scan the remote transmitter. It is accurate, as I have checked the visual digital reader plumbed in the rising main.In fact I used to check the data regularly, but now I don't bother as I have collected enough information to know what I use, and thus if anything is out of kilter I shows up immediately on receipt of my half yearly statement.
So, as suggested I would carry out a few checks, but bear in mind that a trickle is probably to faint to register on the meter, so that would not distort the figures. Do you have a shared supply with another property by any chance? If so, unless the meter is fitted sufficiently far along the supply line you might be paying someone else's bill as well as your own! Another possibility is that your water company has screwed up its recording and that your account belongs to a totally different client, say a launderette? Your bills should be no more than around £20 per month which, incidentally I note is what you are paying per week. Has the accounts section screwed up?

Hi Ian H.
It is ok to b the kleverrist pearson in the rooomm but it is not ok to teell every onne youu arre.
Typing errors should not be corrected not even to family. So be kind to people.
Be happy
Paul

[quote=White Stick follower;15991]Well Bob 2, I am sure that you have diligently recorded your usage, but I have just looked at my water bills, and I see that last 6 months account records our usage as 54 cu metres. This has crept up over a few years from around 46 cu metres. We are classed as low users- indeed SE Water has checked its meter since installed and found it OK. Has your water company checked the function of your meter, as opposed to merely checking for leaks? Admittedly we don't have grandchildren round much these days, as they are teenagers. I admit that my granddaughter (15 yoa) likes to stand under the shower for ages, as she does at her home which is not on a meter, and where she remains oblivious to the electricity she is using, but her visits are only a couple of times a year.
Obviously your usage seems extraordinarily high and, on the face of it, your circumstances do not seem to justify it. But they say that figures can't lie, but can they? Your usage may be accurate but I find them troubling. Not mu problem you may say, that's true, but I hate to think of two retired folk, as my wife and I are, paying more for anything than absolutely necessary.
My standing charges are £21 pa, to SE Water, with £52 pa for waste water to Thames, and £16 pa reduction granted for surface water to soak away.
I hope this helps.[/quote

thanks very much for your answer w.s.follower.
we are going to try and reduce our water usage to 3300 lts a week thats 471 lts a day,
171,600 lts a year at a rounded up cost of .0041313p a ltr= £708.93 year
compared to your 54 c.mts ours will be almost 86 c.mts in 6 months
we have two toilet rooms,and a bath and seperate shower room,the washing machine is used quite a lot,being a retired engineer,i have checked and double checked to see if there is any leaks,i did beleve a one time we were supplying some one else but no ,as soon as i turn off the
house stop cock ,and check the meter its stationary ,we must be using that amount of water.
i have also checked the meter with the stop cock on and all taps turned off still no movment in the meter,the trouble is we have been spoilt 30 odd years in our old house no meter ,water usage was not a problem, thats why i started this topic to worn people changing from ratable value to metered water, you mite be in for a surprise when the bill comes in.good luck & thanks.bob

HI,
I HAVE WHAT IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE LOWEST WATER USAGE RATES IN THE COUNTRY, MY BILL, RECEIVED TODAY READS, FROM 6TH MARCH TO 23RD AUGUST----£6.42. FOR WATER, NOT BAD YOU MIGHT SAY, UNFORTUNATELY, WE (ON OUR SMALL MOBILE HOME PARK) RECENTLY SWITCHED TO METERS.
WE ALREADY HAD PERFECTLY ADEQUATE METERS ON EACH OF THE FIVE HOMES BUT UNITED UTILITIES WOULD NOT AGREE TO US KEEPING THEM SO THEY INSTALLED THEIR OWN, REMOTELY READ METERS AT A COST OF £50 EACH PER YEAR, AND TO RUB SALT IN THE WOUND, OUR FIRST BILL WAS ESTIMATED SO, ALL IN ALL, I WOULD SAY NO, METERS ARE NOT ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA.
INCIDENTALLY, WHERE DOES 'IAN HUMPHRIES' COME FROM ?, BECAUSE IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS WE GIVE OUR MONEY TO THE CONDUCTOR, NOT THE TICKET COLLECTOR.
WE CAN ALL MAKE MISTAKES NOW AND THEN, EVEN EYE ADMMITT TWO MAKIN A MISTEAK WUNCE, LIGHTEN UP IAN.

A helpful response from RRR. Based on the stats provided our usage at around 108 cu metres seems pretty much in line,although a bit below average, but then there is only my wife & I in the house normally.
These figures do underpin the concern that something is wrong somewhere at BOB 2's place, and given all the detailed work he has done, apart from very high usage it suggests that it may be the meter itself which is at fault. Utility companies are notoriously reluctant to admit faults in their equipment, just as 'phone companies try hard to allege that every 'phone fault is the responsibility of the customer, whereas in over 90% of cases, according to a BT Outreach engineer I know, it is the service provider's equipment that has failed.

I think if you live in a large house and there are only two of you, water meter wins hands down but beware if you have a power shower and stay in it for 10 mins or more. Power showers use such a lot of water.

If you are a young family with children, it definately pays to stay on rateable value even if you are in a very small house.

Well done, BOB 2.

At least you will have an opportunity to compare consumption. If, by any chance your old meter was inaccurate, any computed overcharge repayments are likely to be limited to 2 years worth.
As it happens I had my half yearly statement in last week. This shows my household daily consumption as 0.31 cu meters, which includes the exceptional usage such as power washing paving. The exceptional usage will probably trigger a rise of about £4 per month next year, before settling back to the established usage levels.

Susiess is right re power showers, but my wife & I use ours for about 4/5 minutes each per night- and not necessarily on full blast. Fortunately we don't have any teenagers here,apart from very occasionally, as they seem to love staying under the shower for ages.

Just as an aside when I have visited US, I have found power showers in hotels so forceful as to nearly knock me over, and feeling battered when I get out. Lord knows how much they use.

Anyway good luck BOB2. It would be interesting to see how things progress if this site stayed active for long enough.