Water meters

A question about : Water meters

Does anyone have any experience or advice on whether gettnig a water meter might save money or not?

I have a natural reluctance against the idea in case my billis astronomical, but this is emotion not fact.

Anyone help?

Best answers:

• Normaly the water company them selves are very good at working out what u would use, thus enabling to give a basis on whether u will save.
  In general single old people will save, families won't save, single young people will save for while until 1 becomes 2, becomes 3.
  Some companies apparently will offer to remove meter if it doesn't work out cheaper for you, but I'm not sure how this would be cost effective?
  Pak
• long running discussion that just slipped off the first page of topics
  https://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/c...0993;start=1#1
• thanks for link woby_tide.
• its got to be worth a go. our bill has just gone up 17% this year (thank you south west water) so im just waiting for them to do the site survey.
• my mum is considering a water meter - think her best bet is to ring her water company and ask them for advice She is with SSWW
• My pennies-worth.
  Well ther are me and the other half (And she baths EVERY night- faR TOO EXCESSIVE) AND WE SAVED ALMOST HALF OF OUR BILL BY GOING ON A WATER METER.
  We drink 8-10m, cuppas a day, have a w/machine and D/washer and water the garden when required. We even occasionally wash the cars (4 times a year)..
  All depends on your usage but if only one or two in houshold then don't think about it- do it! (IMHO)
  Riz
• Having changed to a water meter in January 2005, my bills are now considerably lower than last year. It remains to be seen whether or not they will stay as low as that, but the monthly payment is based on the answers given to a questionnaire by Severn Trent that is supposed to work out your average water consumption. They ask everything from how many times do you use the toilet per week to how much you use a hose pipe.
  I use a dishwasher 3 times week, use washing machine 4 times a week, I have an 11 year old son, and between us we have 2 baths and approximately 10 showers per week. My bill has dropped from Ј34 (last years bill, so would probably be higher than that now) to Ј16.60 per month. Obviously when you pay by direct debit you only actually pay 8 month whereas now I am paying over 12. This is still a saving of Ј80+ though. I found all the information on the website for Severn Trent including the questionnaire to work out water consumption and cost so it will be worth you having a look at the site for your own supplier.
• If you do change to a water meter, you have one year in which to decide whether to go back to unmetered usage.
  You are likely to save more money with a water meter the higher the old ratebale value of your house is and the fewer people you have living in your property.
  Other factors are hose pipe usage, how often you have baths (a shower uses less), how often you use washing machine, dishwasher and flush toilet.
  Also make sure that your house insurance covers you for loss of water if you are on a meter.
• I found only pro's when moving to a meter.
  Unless you waste water (like for watering the lawn!) then you have nothing to loose.
• Waste water? Even when in the shower, which is in my bath, I put the plug in. The water gets scooped out of the bath and put to use in the garden.
• I have recently changed to a meter and expect to reduce my bill by a third. My MIL is now thinking about doing the same but lives in a council bungalow. Is she allowed to have a meter?
• They could have always used it a as kickstart to saving water and cutting down usage rather than saving money!
• Th main factor in determining if you will save is the Rateable Value(RV) of your property.
  RV was supposed to be calculated on the notional letting value of your property and had little to do with size or value of a property. Thus an old large property could have a lower RV than a modern(i.e. late 1980's) smaller property.
  If you have a very low RV, and use a lot of water, you will proably be worse off with a meter. However I believe the majority of households will be better off with a meter.