Severn Trent fitted a water meter.
Discussion
A few days ago, Severn Trent's contractors turned up a few days ago and were messing about by the stop-cocks on my street.
Seems that without my requesting one, they have fitted a water meter! They also forgot to turn my water back on resulting in no water for hours until their men arrived to sort it out.
Had a letter yesterday informing me that from here on out my bills will be generated by the new meter.
The letter has no mention of how much the unit cost of water will be, or which of the 4 stop cocks outside my house is so I can check on consumption or "send them a reading when we request one".
Anyone else had this happen? Seems a bit off to me.
Finally, their letter mentions go to their website and order some free water saving gadgets. Go there - "we no longer offer free stuff"
Seems that without my requesting one, they have fitted a water meter! They also forgot to turn my water back on resulting in no water for hours until their men arrived to sort it out.
Had a letter yesterday informing me that from here on out my bills will be generated by the new meter.
The letter has no mention of how much the unit cost of water will be, or which of the 4 stop cocks outside my house is so I can check on consumption or "send them a reading when we request one".
Anyone else had this happen? Seems a bit off to me.
Finally, their letter mentions go to their website and order some free water saving gadgets. Go there - "we no longer offer free stuff"
55palfers said:
A few days ago, Severn Trent's contractors turned up a few days ago and were messing about by the stop-cocks on my street.
Seems that without my requesting one, they have fitted a water meter! They also forgot to turn my water back on resulting in no water for hours until their men arrived to sort it out.
Had a letter yesterday informing me that from here on out my bills will be generated by the new meter.
The letter has no mention of how much the unit cost of water will be, or which of the 4 stop cocks outside my house is so I can check on consumption or "send them a reading when we request one".
Anyone else had this happen? Seems a bit off to me.
Finally, their letter mentions go to their website and order some free water saving gadgets. Go there - "we no longer offer free stuff"
Are you currently on rateable value based billing for your water? Seems that without my requesting one, they have fitted a water meter! They also forgot to turn my water back on resulting in no water for hours until their men arrived to sort it out.
Had a letter yesterday informing me that from here on out my bills will be generated by the new meter.
The letter has no mention of how much the unit cost of water will be, or which of the 4 stop cocks outside my house is so I can check on consumption or "send them a reading when we request one".
Anyone else had this happen? Seems a bit off to me.
Finally, their letter mentions go to their website and order some free water saving gadgets. Go there - "we no longer offer free stuff"
I wasn't aware they could force you to move to metered water from RV based billing? (Perhaps the rules have changed)
The PH'r above is probably correct that if the rules haven't changed if metering based bills causes an increase in bills you can revert back to RV based bills.
If you were on RV based billing and you don't have
1. A house full of teenagers who take 1 hr long showers
2. A large garden/lawn that you irrigate daily thro the summer
You will probably be better off with metered billing
I know when I moved from RV based billing to metered consumption (and corresponding % of water used sewerage) my bills dropped to a 1/3 of what they were.
I *DO* have a house full and constant showers/baths, plus a large lawn thats watered regularly, paddling pools being filled in Summer, 3 cars that get washed every week, a semmingly permanently cycling washing machine and generally use water like its going out of fashion, but my monthly bills are still a big chunk lower than they would be on the rateable amount.
Resistance to being put on a water meter is understandable but often very misfounded. You could have been wasting hundreds and hundreds of pounds a year for decades...
Resistance to being put on a water meter is understandable but often very misfounded. You could have been wasting hundreds and hundreds of pounds a year for decades...
Simplest solution,
At a quiet time of day open the lids so you can see all four meters outside your house.
Check which of the dials, if any, is moving.
Get someone to turn your kitchen cold tap full on.
See which meter starts to move or starts to move more quickly.
Get the person to turn off the tap and check which dial slows/stops.
All things being equal - that's your meter.
I don't think modern meter installations need a key to turn the water on and off. Mine has a simple, plastic control valve you can turn with your hand. So your alternative is to set your kitchen cold tap running and see which control valve turns it off.
When your water bills arrive they may well show a "meter number" that matches the number on your meter.
At a quiet time of day open the lids so you can see all four meters outside your house.
Check which of the dials, if any, is moving.
Get someone to turn your kitchen cold tap full on.
See which meter starts to move or starts to move more quickly.
Get the person to turn off the tap and check which dial slows/stops.
All things being equal - that's your meter.
I don't think modern meter installations need a key to turn the water on and off. Mine has a simple, plastic control valve you can turn with your hand. So your alternative is to set your kitchen cold tap running and see which control valve turns it off.
When your water bills arrive they may well show a "meter number" that matches the number on your meter.
ST did this in my street last year (Gloucestershire), they've slowly been replacing all the stop cocks with meters in the town I live in.
It didn't mean I'm on a meter, just if you request it, or the government makes it statutory, there already there.
I'm presuming you didn't you get a leaflet through the door 1-2 weeks before the works explaining what they were doing and that you might be disconnect for an hour or two?
Interestingly I have been reading mine for the past few months, and even with the copious amounts of water I've been putting on the lawn (sprinkler on for an hour, 3-4 times a week) it looks as it will be cheaper for me to move over to a meter. If I don't water the garden I'm looking at a 50-70% saving.
My water bills really rocketed up the past 2 years far higher than the BBC graphs ever showed, due to the inclusion of the sneaky 'unmetered surcharge' to both water and waste which is a new addition. I initially pushed back against the option of a meter, but the savings are starting to get to big to ignore.
It didn't mean I'm on a meter, just if you request it, or the government makes it statutory, there already there.
I'm presuming you didn't you get a leaflet through the door 1-2 weeks before the works explaining what they were doing and that you might be disconnect for an hour or two?
Interestingly I have been reading mine for the past few months, and even with the copious amounts of water I've been putting on the lawn (sprinkler on for an hour, 3-4 times a week) it looks as it will be cheaper for me to move over to a meter. If I don't water the garden I'm looking at a 50-70% saving.
My water bills really rocketed up the past 2 years far higher than the BBC graphs ever showed, due to the inclusion of the sneaky 'unmetered surcharge' to both water and waste which is a new addition. I initially pushed back against the option of a meter, but the savings are starting to get to big to ignore.
A500leroy said:
I'm a shared pipe so be interesting if they ever did it here, one stop cock does 4 properties and the pipe runs across the back garden of all the properties
We're with Unitied Utilities and our meter is in the house. They won't put in the street now unless they really have to, or you pay.Would have been handy to have that arrangement at my last house as the garage supply came off the main before the house!
I stuck with unbilled until it got to £85/mth and I found metered nieghbours were paying £35. This was a few years ago but I don't imagine the dfifference is any smaller now.
55palfers said:
Further info.
It's just Mrs. 55p and me in the house, usual domestic water use and we just use the shower not the bath.
Use water in my greenhouse and on the pots around the garden in summer. Top up the pond from time to time.
Wash the cars and that's about it..
The meter will save you loads then .. You'll be surprised how much. It's just Mrs. 55p and me in the house, usual domestic water use and we just use the shower not the bath.
Use water in my greenhouse and on the pots around the garden in summer. Top up the pond from time to time.
Wash the cars and that's about it..
55palfers said:
Further info.
It's just Mrs. 55p and me in the house, usual domestic water use and we just use the shower not the bath.
Use water in my greenhouse and on the pots around the garden in summer. Top up the pond from time to time.
Wash the cars and that's about it..
IIRC they can insist on a meter if you're in a water shortage area.It's just Mrs. 55p and me in the house, usual domestic water use and we just use the shower not the bath.
Use water in my greenhouse and on the pots around the garden in summer. Top up the pond from time to time.
Wash the cars and that's about it..
How much are you paying now? Unless you're in a low rateable value house or you use a lot of water then you should find your metered water bill is quite a bit cheaper.
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