Water Rates

[grumpy52]

Just had the notification of the water rates . Increased again .
3 years ago it was about £20 pm
2 years ago it increased to £22 pm
1 year ago it shot up to £44 pm
This year it's a few pence under £50 pm .
That's for a single person in a one bedroom flat in SE Kent served by Southern Water ,one of the worst performing water companies in the UK .
Since moving in 11 years ago the payments have more than tripled , no option of going on to a metered supply . They don't install meters in flats .
The percentage increases have far outstripping the increase in my state pension in the same period .
The water is horrible and I have a constant battle to remove the deposits on my taps .
Any other areas had the same ratio of increase in bills ?

[BoRED S2upid]

That’s a huge increase.

I had no idea what we pay so looked it up.

4 bed detached house with 4 of us having baths, showers, lots of clothes washing, watering the garden in the summer etc..,

2023 £57 a month

Currently £69 a month.

Water meter.

What annoys me is the waste water is calculated as exactly the same as fresh water yet we drink lots of it wash the cars with a bit put litres on the garden but they can still charge us for cleaning all that?

[vikingaero]

Because they are a monopoly. There's no mechanism in place for consumers to buy water from other companies like we do with gas or electricity. And much like Councils there's no real mechanism in place for them to perform like a private company in the real world.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

We are in a two bedroom Victorian terrace, we cannot have a water meter due to the way the water supply is installed.

We are with Thames Water, just got our new bill for the year and it is £660.

It was half that two years ago.

[Russet Grange]

One of the few advantages of not having mains drainage is half-price water. Even then we pay about £30/month for just two of us in the household.

[Cotty]

Single occupant with Thames Water as in Greater London
£16 on 26 August 2025
£31 on 25 September 2025
Argued with some Indian call centre to reduce my bill as I am on a meter and know what I am using
They dropped it to £24 in November 2025 then charged me twice in the same month

grumpy52 said:

Since moving in 11 years ago the payments have more than tripled , no option of going on to a metered supply . They don't install meters in flats .

They can depending on how your supply is routed.

[TGTiff]

I live by myself and work away a lot so this may not be representitive of most. I pay every six months. Cost of water used £22. Bill £123. The standing charge vastly outstrips the cost of the water used!

[bigpriest]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

We are in a two bedroom Victorian terrace, we cannot have a water meter due to the way the water supply is installed.

We are with Thames Water, just got our new bill for the year and it is £660.

It was half that two years ago.

£640 with United Utilities (NW), I think they're price matching but not in a good way

[Ussrcossack]

I used to live in a flat and Yorkshire Water installed a meter

[K87]

vikingaero said:

Because they are a monopoly. There's no mechanism in place for consumers to buy water from other companies like we do with gas or electricity. And much like Councils there's no real mechanism in place for them to perform like a private company in the real world.

Spot on.

Just had a notice from my water company that rates will be going up by at least 8% and this has been agreed by Ofwat who say that this is a lie and that the agreed average increase is under 5%

[siovey]

We recently changed to a water meter after our bill went up to £100 pm
3 bed semi, 2 of us live here. Minimal water usage.

Our bill is now £45 pm.
Rif off tts!

[Spare tyre]

Ours went up 47% last year and going up again this year

It’s been nearly a year my water meter has been leaking, still not bothered to come out

Southern water

[croyde]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

We are in a two bedroom Victorian terrace, we cannot have a water meter due to the way the water supply is installed.

We are with Thames Water, just got our new bill for the year and it is £660.

It was half that two years ago.

Same here, bill has doubled despite me being more careful as on a meter.

Government fines the water companies so they just pass it on to the consumer

[Shooter McGavin]

Out of interest, of all those complaining, who voted Conservative in the 1980s and thought privatisation in principle might be a good idea?

Thatcher promised us that private enterprise would bring in investment in infrastructure and efficiencies in operation which would bring bills down.

The monolith that was the Public Sector running the water industry was a bad thing, apparently.

What she didn't say was that these companies would be sold multiple times over to foreign 'private equity' asset stripping vultures who would load them with unaffordable debt, extract billions of pounds in dividends and disappear into the sunset to leave the British public to pay for it, with no choice in the matter.

[grumpy52]

Cotty said:

Shooter McGavin said:

Out of interest, of all those complaining, who voted Conservative in the 1980s and thought privatisation in principle might be a good idea?

In the 80's I would be a teenager not able to vote. Don't be a

I was in my late 20s early 30s in the 80s and certainly not a political animal . Even then I knew that selling off public services and utilities was not a good idea .
Most of what we moan about these days was sold off or had changes in how they were overseen .

[MisterWhippy]

We’ve just had a new meter fitted, a smart one at that. I didn’t request it, but it’s just been changed (as is the whole town I’m in)

Let’s see how much Anglian Water up my bill now.

[WyrleyD]

Ussrcossack said:

I used to live in a flat and Yorkshire Water installed a meter

My son-in-law has a company that is sub-contracted to Yorkshire Water to install/replace water meters and water supply to houses where necessary, that's houses of all types even did some terraced houses in the middle of York recently.

[cliffords]

Two of us and it appears it averages about £55 a month on a meter. We shower always, have a low volume WM and DW. No car washing.
It's the dirty water that costs . The charge for the cleanish water is less than the charge for taking it away.

[Cotty]

cliffords said:

The charge for the cleanish water is less than the charge for taking it away.

I never noticed that before. Its the fixed cost that pushes it over.

[Doesitdrive]

MisterWhippy said:

We ve just had a new meter fitted, a smart one at that. I didn t request it, but it s just been changed (as is the whole town I m in)

Let s see how much Anglian Water up my bill now.

You can refuse it, have a standard bill even though they have fitted it.

I didn't and regretting it. Living alone the bill was higher, and woe beside you have a leak the wrong side of the meter, the massive bill might be the first you know about it.
My mate just got one for 800 quid, they say he must have a leak, a professional cant find one, resorted to turning the water on and off when he needs it.

Welcome to rip off Britain, it ain't ever getting better.