General Chat

My parents live in a 4 bed home that uses a fair amount of water with 4 adults (plus lots of my sisters friends staying over and having showers). They are on a water meter and pay much less than I pay living in a 2 bed semi and consuming a lot less water. My mum only pays about 52 pounds a quarter, which includes watering garden in summer etc. Not sure how much it costs to change over to a metre but I'm certainly considering it. joanne

water must be one of the only commidities that have choices over - either pay the 'average'as in water rates ~probably better for larger families, or metered. i have meter, it does focus your usage and you can save if you want to. our electricty is metered, gas is metered and yet water .... jess

Gloryer Just realised what your hubby means!! If you pay NON metered Bills, then the charge slides according to the OLD rateable (pre-Council Tax) value of your property. So yes, someone in a small house will pay less water RATES than someone in a bigger house. But if you go over to metered charges, then you pay the same per litre as anyone else does, it has nothing to do with the size/value of your house - just as if you bought all your water in bottles at Tescos, its the same price per bottle for everyone. You can have a meter installed to see how you get on with it. You can have it removed in the first year if it looks as if you will be paying more - but you cannot then have another (free) meter at a later date. As for the worry about leaks, my Water Authority allows you one leak in the first 12 months - they will repair it free of charge if it is due to old pipework etc. I had my meter installed under the sink - that way, all leaks on the outside of the property are not my responsibility. Olde Crone

The idea and theory of desalination is ok considering we are surrounded by water but in Malta they have to use desalinated water and it still tastes slightly salty! By the time I get home from a trip there I am used to it in my tea, but then the english water tastes funny. When you think what is in our seas - oil, sewage etc would you fancy it even without the salt? I think our waste water from loos is sieved of all matter like paper, etc etc and then discharged into rivers because don't 'they' say that the fish in the rivers are changing sex due to our used water being put in there and it still contains hormones from the pill and hrt. This can cause problems for men in that it can do something to their sperm quality. Obviously some of that river water must seep into the ground and then come out elsewhere where it ends up back in our water supply which despite the chlorine etc is still tainted hence the problem for boys/men. Sorry this is a bit garbled but I hope you get the gist of what I am saying. We all have to learn not to be so wasteful and to use washingup or bath water to help the plants and lawns along. Better than ending up as it used to be in Malta with most places having the water turned off one day a week. Arrived on holiday one time, all hot and sticky from travelling, and no water till the next day!! Had to buy bottled water to drink but couldn't wash/shower ugh. Don't think things are like that now - I would imagine they have progressed a bit. That was only in 1981 tho.

As far as I am aware, water is charged for at a set price and has nothing to do with Council Tax. But perhaps you mean that you pay for water through your rent, if you are a Council Tenant? Ring them up and ask them. I changed to a meter two years ago, Pre meter I was paying #400 per year. Now I have a meter I pay about #140 a year - I have a washing machine, I wash my car, I water my garden, I have baths as well as showers. I also have four water butts for the garden and if I had room I'd have more, I always run out in the summer. Where I live (Cornwall) leaks only account for 3% of water use. Water is not free - well, of course, it is, you can catch it from the sky, purify it yourself and then arrange the safe and hygienic disposal of your own sewage and foul water.... In Cyprus, they only have 45 days a year when it rains. They rely entirely on snow-melt for their water supply. Every house has an underground tank to store rainwater and this is used for car washing, watering the garden etc. Doesnt seem to be a problem - but they do NOT take water for granted, as we do. Olde Crone

Dunno about cleaning Your waste water lol I dont remember saying they could use mine ! think I should get a rebate. On the other hand I am sure that people who live in Kent have very hard water - even down in Dover where the chalk is so thick you can fill a glass and watch the chalk settle to the bottom before trying to drink it. We have same problem as far away as Bexleyheath but happens more with hot water - seems Thames Water can't clear it so maybe have to buy a filter of my own. By the way you know that Thames Water work with Cologne Water in Germany - spose we should be getting eau de Cologne ??

what a lot of people dont realise is if you have a leak anywhere on your property you of course have to pay for that as well , and you could have without knowing. But saying that we had a Water Meter fitted and we had a large garden and huge pond which I topped up every night in the Hot weather and our bill was still a lot less.

I don't think the band on your council tax affects the amount you pay for water rates. It's just lumped in with your tax bill as they collect on behalf of the water companies. All households in the same areas should be paying the same rate - regardless of the house alue - if not you council is doing something wrong. Zoe

Thank you so now my hubby cant use that as a plus for not moving!!!

I have had a water meter for 10 years.Forgot what i used to pay as a water rate.I think its a fair way.Before i had a water meter the single lady next door paid the same bill as me and i had 4 kids. Annie

Em I do understand your plight my kids have now left home so i know all about kids and bathrooms xxxxx

so it does not matter what property you live in as everybody from the same water board will be charged the same per cubic meter?

can we stop them though? or have we left it too late

not sure if I got an answer to this question on the council tax thread. Couldnt find it so here goes again At the present time as I understand it people in tax band A pay les for their water than those living in tax band D so if they both had water meters fitted would the price per unit be the same for both households or will tax band D be charged more per unit than tax band A Just using those as an example. We dont have a water meter yet and when we have thought about moving up a bracket my hubby always says that the water bil as well as the council tax will be more but if they were metered then maybe not so.........

yes, and use the polar ice caps that are melting too....

Ok for these water companies to urge us to not waste water. Most of the wastage is caused by them not dealing with leaks in their supply pipes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have tried to use less but like Em with kids about there is not a lot of chance of that. I suppose I will just have to pay up and shut up. I guess meters are a fair way to deal with it rather than a council tax house price related system.

Joe, we had a water meter installed about 3 yrs ago. As there are now only 2 of us here, our water bill has halved. Our sewer bill has also halved, because your sewer bill is affected by how much water you use when you have a water meter, so at the moment we are quids-in. How it would be for a larger family though, I don't know. Stella

I agree Howie, but very difficult to put in practice with several daughters chained to the bathroom,

Two of us, no kids, no dishwasher, water bill about £200 pa with a meter (Yorkshire) it was over £500 before. My mum lives in a small bungalow & hers is about £150 a year, again saving tons on what it was before. I don't think its really the amount of money they make, its to make you be a lot more careful about how much you use. I save the washing up water for the plants etc etc. A water butt for saving rainwater is a must if you have a lot of bedding plants.

I have one and save about £300 a year xx they do make you more careful not to waste xx