water meter installation

[filthiestfis]

Has anyone had a water meter installed and has it reduced water bills?

[craft1948]

Yes - I used to pay approx �16.00 per month under the old rating system - I have had a meter for 2 years now and pay �7.00 per month.

[janbee]

i had one installed last January and its cut bills by half. I live in Sussex and I've heard, correctly or incorrectly, that Southern Water are to make them compulsory by 2012. In the meantime you can have one installed and you have a year in which to change your mind

[Postdog]

I'd probably save, but tho not impossible to have one, fitting will reduce space and I would not be able to have a washing machine.

I was considering it (financial reasons) but what also said no was this being a three bedroom house. For any future buyers when I do trade down to somewhere smaller, it would go against me

[janbee]

the water meter is fitted outside in the street not indoors.

[alan-r]

postdog
you can always go back to non-metered if you sell your house to someone who does not like the idea
also the meter is about the size of an orange

[Postdog]

like I said, I enquired, a surveyor came round - only place available was indoors.

[craft1948]

mine's not outside it's under my kitchen sink....

[Postdog]

Different rules for different authorities I think.

With all new builds, they HAVE to have a meter, whatever your region.

I did not have the option to change my mind once I did it.

[baileybird]

We have a meter - 2 adults and 3 teenagers living at home still. Bills are much more expensive than without a meter for us and when we moved here we were told when meter is installed you have to keep it.

I think the answer lies in how many people are in the house and how much your comsumption is.

[andy-hughes]

We are two adults and a teenager family.

We moved from a three bedroomed semi without a meter to a four bedroom detached with a meter and our bills have gone down.

Can't say how much, the present Mrs Hughes deals with the household accounts, but she always comments favourably on the difference.

[filthiestfis]

We are 2 adults so I think that it will be of benefit to us, however, it would not possibly benefit a large family...without the water meter we would be subsidising those families' water bill.

[theshedman]

Hi, have you tried the compare sites. I had a look at a couple as I was thinking of changing to a meter. They ask you lots of things about how much water you use like how many showers, how many times on average you use loo etc and then come up with a figure. By the way I wish I had crafts bill, I just had my new bill in for the coming year and it's gone up to �79 a month. The tears I shed are enough to fill bath though LOL. That's South West Water for you.

[DEN53]

We moved to a bungalow 3 years ago (2 adults and 1 (very expensive teenager !!!) - the water meter was already installed (outside front drive) by the lady who lived here before.

Unfortunately we have found our bills to be much more costly.

I think a water meter is fine for say, a pensioner or a person living on their own, but for a family, the bills are much more dearer.

It makes me laugh, when you see adverts for saving water, advising that having a shower is cheaper than a bath- this may well be true, but you can only stay in the shower for a minimum of 5 minutes, it takes me that time to get the top of the shower gel !!!

Once the meter is installed, you cannot have it removed.

No - I don't think they are a good idea !!!!!

[chas2008]

this one has been covered may times with differing answers, from my point of view our bills halved one of the best things we ever did.
Still water the garden etc, makes you think twice about how much water you are using in the early stages but you soon get bored with that and carry on as normal.

[craft1948]

good grief shedman that's as much as my council tax. I live by myself which is why I had the meter fitted and I'm with Yorkshire Water.

[theshedman]

Hi craft, we visit leeds most years now and noticed the water tastes nice up there too. We pay over the odds for ours and it tastes horrible, it has to be filtered before it tastes ok and if it's not filtered it clogs everything up with limescale. Sorry about going away from the original subject.

[baileybird]

You should go for it - I agree why should you pay the same as our family of 5 when there are only two of you!
I think we should all be responsible for what we use - same with council tax - why should you pay the same for your little bit of rubbish to be taken away when i fill my bins and my neighbours bins with all our rubbish.

[Jugglering]

I've got a meter fitted - it was installed in the pavement outside my house, not inside the house and it's very easy to take readings (just lift the hinged cover, remove the foam piece and note the meter reading). If I find I don't like the financial results during the first year, I can have it removed but so far it has saved me over 70% off my water bill, so I shall keep it.

[mrs.chappie]

We have a large house and the water bill would be �580 per year, based on its rateable value.

We pay �12 per month for metered water, so we are making a good saving.

A lot depends on the way you use water. We tend to have showers most of the time. We also have a water butt and sometimes use the water from that for watering the garden or flushing the loo. We like to do this - not just for financial reasons - we like to feel that we are not wasting resources.