Water meter

They put in a new water meter in all the houses in my road and told us all, we have to have them.
They charged us for the first year £25 per month, that was good as I was paying £47 before.
The next year they put it up to £45.
I had not cut down my water in that year but I phoned them and said it seems a big jump being £20 extra per month, her answer was, I can reduce it to £40 per month.
Now how can I save on water.
I do not wont a brick in my toilet systems but will not flush so often.
I do try to save rain water for my greenhouse.
Any other idea's.
We do have a lot of hanging baskets in the summer and a large pond but do not wont to get rid of them if possible.

Re: Water meter

We pay under £25 per month for our metered water. We shower instead of bath and have a large water butt for the garden. We use our water as and when we need it, don't waste water but aren't skinny with it either.

I think generally speaking for a household of one or two people you are better off with a meter, unless you wash your car every day !!

Re: Water meter

I agree with that !

Re: Water meter

You seem to have to now, think about your water usage, to save a few quid, is it worth the hassle.

Re: Water meter

I could do with another water butt. I have a lot of tubs to water frequently in hot weather, so my existing water butt gets emptied quite quickly. Then, because its hot and dry, it doesn't fill up again, so I am back to square one, with no water for my tubs.
What I did last year was keep using 'grey' water, eg washing up water for shrubs and bedding, and it certainly made me aware of how much I would normally just send down the drains. Then I kept my water butt for the rhodedendruns and camellias and anything else needing rainwater. I still had to use the hosepipe or watering cans in the end as well though.

Re: Water meter

I wouldn't like to feel I needed to be careful of my water usage, I like taking baths, watering the garden and washing my dishes more than once a day, to have to think before I used it would be a pain

Re: Water meter

$50 then $90 a month? it must be very special water

My water is metered at about $2 a kilolitre (used to be 98c) but there is no incentive to save water because there is also a service fee which far outweighs the cost of water, my last bill was $80 (£40) for three months.

I have dual flush toilets but got rid of the water saving shower head, I like to get wet without having to run about in the shower. There is also 5000litre of rain water stored in water tanks put in during the last drought but rarely use that water now - much easier to use a hose connected to the tap.

You should ask the water company why they charge so much when it is not like the UK is short of water. (You could also ask them why water spends millions of years trickling down through rocks before it appears at your tap but suddenly when they put it in a bottle it has a use by date)

Re: Water meter

You may remember my post recently when I said my DDs had gone up from £7pm to £23! I soon got on the phone, yes they agreed my usage was quite low so it's been lowered to £16. Probably the average for these 1 bedroomed single occupancy flats. Still an increase of £9pm, wiping out my extra pension.

Grrrrrr.

Re: Water meter

You get what you pay for. If you insist on using an increasingly scarce resource with no thought of economy, then you´ll get a large bill. Mine´s just gone up to £5 a month. £45 seems a bit excessive.

Re: Water meter

There is a whole industry for this topic and it depends how much you want to spend to save money. It is all based on harvesting rain water so a series of tanks are sunk in your garden and all your gutters (eve's and down pipes) are fed into the largest. A pump sends it to your roof tank where its is ready for when you shower or use the washing machine. It is then sent back to another tank in the garden then up to the roof again for when you flush the loo. This is why there is a standing charge when you have a meter so that they can still get ya...