Water is life. When chilled, it refreshes your thirst, when hot, soothes your skin during a bath. However, the more of water you use in your residence, the higher the water bill you get at the end of the month.
Many people are interested in shaving hundreds of pounds off their water bills. Standing in the way of that however is that who supplies your water depends entirely on where you live, so the usual trick of switching suppliers or tariffs doesn’t apply. The country has been divided into regions and you are locked in to the company that got your region’s water contract.
There are however steps you can take to pay less for your water supply. But we have to address the elephant in the room first.
Meter or No Meter?
There are two ways UK residents pay their water bills. You can pay a fixed price yearly, called rateable billing. How much you are billed depends on the rateable value of the building you live in but you are free to consume any amount of water. Think of it as an all you can eat buffet where you pay an entry fee. These rateable fees were calculated in 1990 and has never been revised so an obvious disadvantage is that you may be paying more than you actually consume.
The other option is getting metered. You can request for a meter from your services provider for free most times but there is no guarantee that your bill will reduce. But it is worth the effort of investigating. If you are single or do not house children living with you, for example, you could save hundreds of pounds.
You have a twelve-month window to return to rateable billings if you decide a water meter is not for you. But a good rule of the thumb is you are likely to pay less if the number of occupants is less than the number of rooms in your apartment or you live in a high property value postcode.
There are resources that can help you decide if a water meter is a good fit for you. You could use the Consumer Council for Water’s water estimator to assess your water usage.
How to Reduce Your Water Bill
If you opt for a water meter, then you pay for every single drop that enters your apartment. To pay less, you simply have to watch your water usage and adjust.
- Take more showers and less baths. Also, take shorter showers
- Brushing your teeth? Don’t leave the tap running. It adds up when everybody in the house does that everyday
- Wash up to save on water. Using a dishwasher can cost you up to 55 litres whereas a wash up uses around six litres of water
- Rinse plates in the basin, not directly under the tap
- Wash vegetables in water inside a bowl, rather than directly under the tap
- Use a watering can in your garden rather than a hose. Also, your lawn probably do not require so much water to remain green. Or make use of rain water
- Switch to water-economical toilet cistern to reduce the amount of water used each time you flush. You toilet can account for up to 27% of the household daily water usage
- Fix dripping faucets. About 20 gallons of water you pay for may be going down the drain daily
- Evaluate if you really need a swimming pool. You consume thousands of litres if you have one installed on your property
Sometimes, you get a surprise in your water bill when it is unusually large. What can you do to know what is wrong?
- First, make sure you are being billed correctly. Regularly check your meter reading because your bills may be estimated. Call up to schedule a meter reading or regularly send in the readings.
- Watch out for any new ways you are using water. Have you recently fixed a hot tub or installed a water-cooled air conditioner? Or you had guests over for an extended period of time?
- Watch out for leaks. You can easily check by closing all taps and watching if the water meter stops or not. Taps, toilet plumbing or the shower are good places to start checking. This may require more extensive fix because the leak could be occurring in underground pipes or other less accessible areas
Help When You Can’t Pay Your Water Bills
If you are finding it hard to pay your water bill, you can access help. Water companies usually offer special social tariffs for low income customers or are on benefit schemes. You may qualify for the WaterSure Scheme for example, which will cap your bill at a certain amount if you are metered.
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