Sudden jump in water bill

A question about : Sudden jump in water bill

We're at a loss,

For the past 5 years our water usage has been consistent, about 50 units (cubic meters) per half year, the suddenly the new October bill is 135 units?

The only unusual things in the last six months have been a slight overflow leak in the toilet, which I fixed in half a day, and we've had the drive block paved, but I can't see the contractors using 85 tonnes of water to do that.

I've informed Severn Trent and they're sending an engineer around, but would they be able to detect an intermittent fault in the meter?

Best answers:

• I assume that the readings are now normal i.e. approx. 2 cubic metres a week?
  It is rare that leaks cure themselves, or meters over-read.
  For how long was your cistern leaking?
  Could the contractors have damaged the pipe? I assume that the meter is on roadside edge??
• No, the meter is inside the house, so I would of thought a leak of 85 tonnes of water would have been noticable to say the least, probably by the whole house sinking into the ground.
  Yesterday I half filled the bath, and it used 0.15 of a unit, so I don't think it's over-reading. I'm going to keep an eye on weekly usage to see if there are any glitches.
  The toilet overflow was leaking for about half a day before we turned the water off and replaced the float valve, and it was just audibly trickling, not gushing out.
  We don't do anything that uses a lot of water, we have daily showers but that hasn't changed in the last 5 years, and I have a rainwater butt for washing bikes and cars, we don't have paddling pools or water plants, the garden it's just grass and concrete. Our usage went up by about 10% when we had our second child 4 years ago due to extra washing etc, but it's been consistent up until this last bill.
• I had something similar-ish with a toilet cistern dribble (straight into the pan).
  I foolishly left it, think it was only a tiny dribble and no harm was being done, but when my 6 monthly bill arrived, it had doubled.
  Expensive lesson.
  Got it fixed (cheap and simple), and the bill returned to usual level.
• Ok 50 litres of water for of year is just below average for two people. Cistern leaks could add a third more to he bill.
  When I rang Severn Trent, they advised shutting off Stop C0CK, over night. Take a reading. If reading had moved overnight, then leak is in supply. If no increase overnight, open stop C0CK and see if meter moves. If it does, leak is inside in a cistern. Also check for overflows leaking.
  Oh, we had ST round and they were very good with their advice.