| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jamanda |
Water metersWho has had one installed? Did it make any difference to what you pay? Presumably they provide more incentive to save water.We aren't too profligate I don't think, three in the house, one of whom gets grubby and his clothes covered in mud and breakfast regularly. Do you think we'd be better off? Behemoth what do you think? |
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| vegplot |
If you're a standard household then you can make considerable savings, especially if you're water conservation concious. There is a cut off point though, high volume users can negotiate their own charge agreements, others can't. | ||
| judith |
Re: Water meters
I remember that my Mum saved over £100 per year at her last house. |
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| Rob R |
Re: Water meters
He's a geographer & claims no affiliation to the meter people 
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| Behemoth |
Do you want to save money, water or both?
You can save water without installing a meter. You can save money by installing a meter without doing anything about your consumption, depending on what you pay now compared to your potential metered water bills. Sooooo..... What do you pay now? Who's your water company (and sewage if different). |
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| marigold |
Check your water company website to see if it has a calculator to help you decide. | ||
| Behemoth |
Small print = Only for users with consumption greater than 50,000,000 litres per year. |
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| sean |
South West Water.
2006 which is the figure which comes to hand was £409.06 |
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| sean |
Ahh, they're probably going to make them compulsory anyway.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7233714.stm |
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| Behemoth |
From my sums if you use 150m3 a year (A generous estimate), your bill would be about £640.
If you were a bit below average in your use and used 100m3 you would pay about £440. You would have to start getting thrifty with your use to get below £400. A rough rule of thumb is 40 to 50m3 per person per year. But that does include the profligate. |
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| judith |
If it's not a daft question, how can you roughly work out your usage if you don't have a meter? How much does a load of washing use, for example, or a 5-minute shower? | ||
| Jamanda |
Both. Saving water is a good thing to do and if you can save a bit of money at the same time so much the better. |
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| vegplot |
No it's not a daft question. It's not easy to get an accurate measure without a meter. You'd have to get data from your washing machine manufacturer and for the shower use a bucket of known volume and see how long it takes to fill. There are online calculators which will give you some idea based on useage, household size etc. |
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| Behemoth |
You can rely on estimates based on sample data from real people, or you can measure (in litres).
find out the specs of your machine multiply by approx usual use. find out toilet cistern capacity and keep a check on the number of flushes. put the plug in the bath and measure how much water you use for your shower. how many bowls do you use for washing dishes etc. throw in a bit for tea and cooking Work that out for a week and then multiply by 52. 1000 litres = 1 cubic metre. |
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| dougal |
First thing: billing is by cubic metre (m3), that is a tonne, or more conventionally 1000 litres, exactly.
A typical bucketful is close to 10 litres. A bathful might be around 100 litres. Depends. A normal big waterbutt is 200 litres. Washing machine depends. Check its grading. To check shower consumption, put the head (not yours) in a bucket and time how long it takes to fill... |
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| judith |
Looks like I'm going to have to get the calculator out.
This may take some time... |
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| cab |
Only recently got one, haven't had any bills to compare yet. Will keep this place informed as to whether we save money or pay more. | ||
| Helen_A |
Well - our meter should be fitted by the end of this month, yay! I'm hoping that this water board doesn't turn out to be hideously more expensive than the last two. In Sussex we were spending about £15 a month (with a small refund each year back from that) and Herts our bills were about the same (although we definitely used about 20% less there as we weren't watering plants etc.) The bill here based on the rates is nearly £500 for the year, so hopefully our metered amounts will be less than that, as 'they say' that we will use more water than that, but then they also think that we are going to use about 150 units (whatever they are) a year....
Helen_A |
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| sean |
Can't have one. We're on a joint supply and there isn't room for an internal one. We may get our bill reduced for asking though. | ||
| Behemoth |
Isn't room? They're about the size of a large grapefuit.
Did they discuss fiddling with your plumbing arrangement to fit one? I'm guessing getting your own supply pipie is too expensive to bother. |
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| sean |
The pipe's embedded in the wall. And it's lead. | ||
| Behemoth |
How quaint!
Without seeing I'm sure it's hard to explain but I can't help feeling it should be possible. |
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| sean |
I'll take a photograph if I ever get bored enough.
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| Behemoth |
Remember to put a potato next to it for scale. 
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| Treacodactyl |
That's interesting. Now we've got our latest bill it seems we, or at least the next people who'll live here, are better off without a meter. The annual bill for water and waste is a little over £300, not bad for the parched South East. |
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| cab |
Turns out that a water meter resulted in a fall in what we pay, from an abstract figure with no link to what we consume to another lower figure with no link to what we consume. Perhaps they'll play with the figure more later after they have more readings. | ||
| colour it green |
we must get a meter. been waiting to see if we can spot any leaks.....
last time i looked they had an offer on that if you convert to a meter and dont like it, you can go back to rates. what I can't help thinking is if they have to raise so much money a year, then once every one is on meters.. the price will go up, so they still get the money they need.. iyswim |
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| Behemoth |
Sort of but not quite. People on meters are paying the correct unit price. The cost of the remaining water used is divied up amongst the unmetered customers. As more people move onto a meter and save money the income 'lost' is shared out among those who still don't have a meter. It's a balancing act but the end result is that everybody ends up on a cost reflective tariff. | ||
| colour it green |
much prefer the idea of paying for what we actually use. incentive to save more water. |