Water rates info?

[Snadger]

Right..........Prepare for an epic............I've mentioned this before but I fancied a water meter for my seldom lived in house I am renovating. At present I am paying full water rates even though I am only there on saturdays working on it.

My indoor stop tap is passing so I decided to lift the covers outside the gate to knock the water off from there.
Lo and behold on lifting the cover, what did I find but a working water meter. Problem solved says I and after checking if it was linked to my water supply I read the meter and jotted down it's serial number.

Contacted the water board by email to say "Oi, why am I paying water rates for a house I don't live in when it has a water meter?"

After a week, I recieved a phonecall today to say that yes, a water meter had been fitted in 2003 at my then, house owners request, but no, I couldn't use it because the daft buggers had connected it into a line that fed both me and my next door neighbour. In other words TWO houses water was being metered, instead of mine only.
Apparently I can get a water meter fitted for myself but it will cost ME 400 an odd pounds!
Right, before i contemplate splashing out, can any of you wise grapes explain to me if the sewerage part of the bill is based on the water usage (if you have a meter), or whether it in itself is a fixed rate added to the cost of water used?
My logic tells me that it should be proportional because if you don't use enough water to flush a loo, why should i need to pay sewerage cost to get rid of non existant effluent?
Or am I mad to even contemplate paying for a meter to be installed?

Appologies for the length of post!

[cptncrackoff]

I'm pretty sure my sewerage charges are a percentage of the water used.
Let me look into it.
Our water company fitted the meter for free, and the bill went from rates £42 per month to meter £21 per month ( family of 4)... I'll double check..

[Pies]

got my bill here,southern water,and sewer water is 92.5 % of water supplied

[cptncrackoff]

Our supplier definatly installs meters free.
I cant get my current bill as the baby is asleep in our bedroom!

Our water supplier have a very helpful website that may help you decide...

https://east.veoliawater.co.uk/water-charges.aspx

[Pies]

why do they want to charge you £400 when there website says "most cases installation is free"

[Potstubsdustbins]

If your renovating the property you may well be able to have your water rates cancelled whilst work continues.

Approach your supplier explain the properties not fit for habitation due to the renovation. Tell them you only have a standpipe arrangement within the property to draw water for mixing concrete/plaster etc.

Standpipe the rising main above the main inlet stopcock is cut and bent over to allow a bucket to fit underneath and the water is controlled by the stopcock. No other water supply into the property should be connected.

Aquadis 1/2" water meters approved class C & D £36-86p + VAT B.E.S Ltd, Plumbing and Gas supplies.

Colin

[Two_Sheds]

Yeah, sewerage is based on about 90% of your water usage. You can get a reduction if you can prove you don't use sewerage or you have a soakaway for rainwater (I'm not sure if water butts are included) https://threevalleys.custhelp.com/cg...ted=1240301595

[JanieB]

Oooh Kaay. I would love, love to have a water meter. I live in a 3 bed terraced 230 year old house on my own and pay water rates at the rateable value of the house. I know it's way above what I would pay on metered rates.

When the OH died and the account was changed to my name I was sent a letter stating that the water board were putting in a meter as required by law. I rang them and explained that that would be difficult as the main supplied 5 properties and I wasn't happy to pay for all of us. I had a phone call from a lovely girl who completely understood and sent me a letter confirming that they couldn't, despite legislation, put a meter on my supply. I then had a letter telling me when they were turning up to install the meter. I had a conversation with nice ladies boss. I talked about the executors of OH's will and he said "no it says exors" on his letter from the solicitor. In other words the boss is illiterate.

2 days later the crew turn up to install the meter. Then tell me they can't install it because it serves 5 properties .

What a bloody waste of time and money. Sometimes, actually many times, legislation doesn't take account of fact.

From Martin Lewis' Money saving expert website: I can explain this, having worked for Essex and Suffolk Water. There are areas which come under "Compulsory Metering", which means that whenever there's a change of occupier, the water company has a right to fit a water meter. They do not need to ask permission of the new owner, as that person does not become a customer until an account has been set up in their name. The water company won't bill that customer until a water meter has been fitted. Anyone living in the SS postcode area (Southend, Basildon, etc) is affected by this, as that is E&SW's Compulsory Metering area for now. The only way to avoid it is to either not move house, or to rent. They are only fitting meters in houses (not flats) which are being bought and sold, unless requested to fit one by a current customer.

By the sounds of it, the OP has just bought a house in a CM area, thus has no right or say about having a water meter fitted. However, he should have been informed by the solicitor dealing with her house purchase that the property is in a CM area. This is happening all over the country, with the various water companies forcing CM on new customers postcode by postcode. When E&SW has finished with the SS postcode area, they will open up a new CM area, determined by postcode. The same applies to all the other Water companies. The idea is to get everyone on a meter eventually.

If you've moved into a property that already has a meter fitted, you cannot request that it be removed, nor can you ask to revert back to the old system of rateable value (water rates).

If you request a water meter, you can ask to revert back to RV within 12 months of the meter being fitted, but the meter will not be removed. That way, when you come to sell your house, the next owner will have no choice but to be billed according to actual usage (i.e. by water meter).

[Potstubsdustbins]

Janie B,

We all think of the authority's work force as experts when in actual fact they are just people reading from a sheet and sometimes not even the same sheet.

So you are on a shared water service not unusual in a property of that age. I live in a 40s built property and have a shared water service does this preclude you from having a water meter err NO.

You may have to pay for it yourself but as you live in a property of that size on your own it should deliver considerable savings.

First contact your authority and ask if you had a internal remote reading water meter would this be acceptable. If they agree find a decent plumber and get some quotes to have one fitted.

The authorities do not like internal water meters as they need to gain access to read them and unlike gas suppliers etc they have no right of access to your home.

A pulse water meter sends a signal along a wire to a device on the outside wall of your house and this can be read without the need to enter the property. It is fitted just above your internal stop cock so you would need to have room for it otherwise I can foresee no problems.

Colin

[lizzylemon]

I don't know what percentage for sure but sewer charges are the largest proportion of the bill. I've lived in 2 different properties where we've had septic tanks and the difference in the bills between plant cleaning and septic tanks is massive.

I'd say any where between 450 to 300 quid a year difference. The normal cost for emptying a septic tank is about 150 quid per go, so if you're good about what you put down or have more than 1 house using the tank you can keep the costs down.

if you have the ability / funds and want, I'd think about having a tank put in.

[JanieB]

Hi Pots,

Actually, I did know that this was now available and keep meaning to call the Water board to arrange it. The other half died several years ago and the remote meter wasn't available then, so I was speaking historically. I should have made that clear.

It's slightly more complicated in that there is a covenant stating that my next door neighbour has the right to use my standpipe which would come after the meter.

[Hilary B]

I would be happy with a water meter. If it is done on a RV basis, the selfish $%$&&% down the road who washes his car every week, and uses a LOT more water than he needs to pays the same as the careful householder who ues saved rain to water the garden in dry spells, and actually takes no more than half the quantity. A metered system (PAYU) has to be fairer than that surely?
It may be inconvenient for the household that HAS to use a lot of water (eg loads of kids needing baths and clothes washed), but that is very different from 'unfair'.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Janie,

Sorry I can't help on that subject, thats one for the legal beagles not the plumber.

Colin

[Mikey]

I have a meter and wish I didn't. My family is three, we have dual flush toilets, a dishwasher, nobody is home during the day, my DD has a bath every day in about 8 inches of water, and my OH and I shower daily. On top of this its usual stuff filling kettles, pots and pans etc, and I have a water butt for the garden.

Our rates are higher than our neighbours who aren't on a meter, and they use the garden hose for all sorts.

I would be very wary about getting a meter, once you have it you cannot go back, and if it costs you more tough.