Eight Ways To Cut Your Water Bill

I have had a water meter for many years.I use rain water from a rain water barrel to flush the loo, especially easy if one lives in a bungalow. I keep a supply in old plastic milk bottles. My current monthly direct debits are £6.30.

Saving water in shower.
This works only with a cold combi boiler. Run hot tap for a few seconds to fire up the boiler. Wait 10 seconds for the boiler to get up to heat. Then run hot tap till the water is hot. Switch on the shower at this point. Saves cold water and gas.This also works in with a mixer tap in the kitchen.

Bath with a friend!

Water Meters are NOT always the best option.
As far as I can tell from speaking with freinds and comparing bills households with 1 or 2 people seem to benefit from a meter, however, households of 3+ (ie. me) end up paying more (as I have.
Jane should really tell both sides of the story before telling all readers to get a meter.
Also...
Although I'm not a fan of 'water hippos' I do know that Severn Trent are offering free Save-a-Flush bags to their customers. If anyone is interested please visit http://www.stwater.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.5795

In the long run the 'water rate' is a better deal than the water meter. With the price linked to the property you occupy it tends to reflect your ability to pay and, more importantly, it does not rise when your cash strapped growing family uses more water. So it costs more per capita when the family grows up and leaves home, but that simply represents a socially desirable inter-generational transfer. Meters are also extremely costly to operate relative to the cost of water, if everyone had them water bills would rise disproportionately... which might be why water companies favour them. As a way of reducing consumption, public appeals, incidentally, have proved to be more effective than metering.
In the 1970's California drought the City of Berkeley posted official notices "Shower with a friend" - much more fun that meters !

in reply to mrtricky007, in 1991 the water companies wanted to compulsory meter everyone, then in the middle 1990's they had to take out or seal off water meters that had been put in on a compulsory basis. However, any houses built since 1991 (I think) or certainly the mid 1990s automatically have a water meter fitted, and you can't have it taken out, that was the deal struck with ofwat/the government. I live on my own and my bill had decreased by over £300 per year since having a meter fitted compared to the old rateable value, if you are going to have one fitted keep a check on your meter readings and if its more expensive get them to cap it off within the 12 month initial period.

Bathe together

I applied to Thames Water for a meter and was told that if my property was built before 1960 (which it is) I would have to have all underground pipes inspected at my expense. If I went ahead without an inspection and there were problems I was responsible for all costs involved. Hence, I am not on a meter yet! Has anybody else experienced this and what did it involve please? I live on my own and pay £44 per month!

We moved house in Nov from a 4 bed detached with a water meter where we paid £350 a year to 4 bed detached which was non metered. (We have 2 small kids and often have a lodger.) Hooray, I thought, I no longer have to be so careful, until my bills for the year ahead came in. For a years supply with South E water and Southern Water they amounted to £800. I thought this was a mistake until I discovered my friends who were also in 4 bed detached houses in the same area were all paying the same! I have gone straight back on a meter and even if we are careless we are unlikely to use up the £450 worth of water we are saving. It is not the case that bigger houses should stay non-metered, though strangely my friends paying £800 are all choosing not to go metered through some kind of irrational fear of paying more!

We are careful and already follow the advice in the article, plus not flushing the loo after every visit if the whole family is going at the same time before we go out.

Surface Water Drainage Rebate.
I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this standing annual charge (£25) which can be rebated.
The sewerage charge you pay includes the cost of removing and treating surface water. This is the water that falls on your roof or the hard paved surfaces of your property.
You qualify for a rebate if :
• all the rainwater from your roof or shared roof drains into a soakaway both at the front and rear of your property, and,
• all the rainwater from your garden, drive, patio or yard runs off into the soil.

You DO NOT qualify if:
• part of your surface water goes to a soakaway
• you use a water butt but have no soakaways
• the water from your roof runs indirectly to the sewer.
A soakaway is where water from your roof, etc, is piped to a large underground pit filled with gravel within the boundary of the property, normally 10 to 15 feet away from the house foundations.
There's usually a form you can download on your water comapny's website. It's your money not theirs!

StevePayneQX said Surface Water Drainage Rebate.
I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this standing annual charge (£25) which can be rebated

In the Anglian Water region, the rebate is £32 per year and the conditions are not as strict as Steve suggests.

One clue as to whether your house qualifies is whether it is (or was) connected to a septic tank for foul water drainage. If you are on one of these, the drainage company wants to reduce the volume of water as much as possible, so makes other arrangements for surface water.

It's true - gray water management and use really does make a difference. In our case it was a reduction of 51% on our latest water bill compared to the previous six months.

It all came about when our dishwasher was out of order and we used the dirty water on our garden plants, adding in cold tea and some other 'unmentionables' - my potatos are consequently better than they've ever been!!!!!. At the same time we used bathroom sink water for flushing the loos.

An annual saving of 100GBP or so is well worth the extra effort.

I am beeing taken to court at the moment by United utilities. ALL residents in my are pay around £340 per year water rates top £400. My house is a newer build 1962 3bed surrounded by large victorian houses 5-6 bed. My water rates per year are £920 I have paid united utilities £450 well above local average & asked them to review my bill inline with everyone else. They say dispite making millions in profit they have no department that can review bill. the bills are set in stone.... I don't expect water for free but lets face it the water boards have done nothing for years they should be held accountable for the state the water pipes are in. Over the years millions of new houses/flats have been built so again they are getting more & more money from more people, demand has gone up but how many have homes abroad now & rarely use water in their homes during times away.. I am tempted to build a swimming pool (lol if only we could afford one) we may aswell get value for money. I feel it is blackmail. I have NO option but to use united utilities no other supplier or competitor in Manchester area this is not fair so why has office of fair traiding not stept in to monitor all of this. If we lived in France I'm sure EVERYONE would refuse to pay until fair price set. Running out of money to live in UK such a shame greedy companies pricing us all out.

In the 1970s, during drought times, there was a saying "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" - anyone remember this? When we moved into a big house with a water meter (only 2 of us) we did become more conscious of water usage. I now rarely use the dishwasher - for two of us it doesn't take long to wash by hand, when the washing machine needed replacing, I bought one with a half-load option, and we follow the old 1970s rule when there's just the two of us around.

I also like pjharr's comment about diluting water - with whisky perhaps? :-)

Pee in the garden.

To fill [note how we speak of "filling" a kettle -- even our use of language tends to programme us to waste] a kettle with just the right amount, fill a cup and pour the requisite number of cupfuls into the kettle. After a few goes it becomes habitual. Otherwise, filling the kettle directly from the tap invariably results in excess water in the kettle. NB this does not save much water -- just a bit that evaporates when the kettle boils -- it saves the energy required to boil the water in the kettle. (If you have an exposed element in your kettle, you need to make sure it is just covered with water, to avoid it overheating.)

Surely, the rule of thumb has to be to get a meter if the number of occupants exceeds the number of bedrooms.

My girlfriend and I hate showers -- we always bathe together. No-one ever compares a shower with less than half a bath (less than half thanks to Archimedes).

I have a big butt (if you excuse the expression) and have re-plumbed so my downstairs loo, dishwasher and washing machine use natural, soft rainwater.

I saved a small fortune by installing rain water butts. The water is used to water the garden and wash the car. Being on a water meter the water used to water the garden & wash the car was charge as both water in and sewage out. Now its free as long as it rains. I wish I had installed the water butts a lot sooner.

Being someone who hates waste I think water meters should be compulsory. People will then rethink how they use water and there won't be so much wasted, just like we are all having to do with fuel. In my household there is myself and 2 teenagers, we all have a bath or shower each day, both the washer and dishwasher are on 3 or 4 times a week. The only concession I've made since becoming metered is not using a hose either for the garden or washing the car. I'm with Yorkshire Water and pay £30 per month over 12 months which I think is reasonable. In the 15 years that I've had the meter the cost has probably doubled. If I'd been billed by the rateable value I'd have been much worse off. The more water we use the more it costs the water companies. Logically if we were all on water meters the cost would go down for all of us as we would all be more economical. (Thats of course excluding the greed of big business!) I've just been reading an article that the world faces a water shortage in the coming eyars due to the increase in population - perhaps now is the time for us all to be personally accountable for the water we use.

Tonyblue's idea of using a water butt is excellent... but, here... don't I recall - in the early days of water privatisation - that a pub (was it the Cat and the Fiddle?) used this extremely sensible device to collect water off their own roof - to be informed by the newly-formed water
carpetbaggers (sorry, water company) that there was a CHARGE for this. That is, for using your own water. Perhaps I dreamt this but didn't the water company say the water was THEIRS?

From my experience if you are careful with your water usage and observe the ways to save it, being on a meter is cheaper.
There are four of us in the house (2 adults, 2 kids 6 & 8 years) and we are better off by far in the Anglia water region.
We are not obsessive about water consveration but do take care with it as at the end of the day it costs us!
I would like to think that if we all had to stop and think about water usage prices would level (hmmmm) for all because people on rates can use as much as they like. I know people in the Three Valleys region who pay very little in comparison in rates but brag about leaving their sprinklers on for hours etc (apparentl it's their right or something!). Bascially other more careful users are subsidising this arrogance.
At least we are now seeing new properties being fitted with meters and people moving house are required to convert upon arrival if one is not already installed.
Yikes - I am starting to sound like some mad eco-warrior....where's that funny farm address....

My new house built in 2001 has modern single flush cisterns. With all of them it is necessary to flush them multiple times to remove solid waste. What a waste of water! The modern use of small amounts of water to flush a toilet is counter-productive. My old house had a dual flush cistern which was mush better so the amount of water needed could be controlled.

On the issue of running water, until my wife died earlier this year I had live-in carers. Without exception they all washed up under a running hot tap. I could never persuade any of them to use a bowl for washing up.

As I am alone now my water bill with a meter should drop considerably.

Sorry bethybird, I am french and the system is similar to the uk. To this difference. All individual properties are fitted with meters since 1960 (Flats and houses). For older properties, example in Paris, the water is averaged and based on the dimension of the property in square meters. So larger properties paying more than smaller irrespective to number of occupants. Same as UK.
Water is either managed by private companies or managed by the city (distribution, drainage, water treatment). Some cities prefer to have control and some are happy to have it managed by the private sector.
I am french and I have a property in France (also my family in Paris). I am not sure where you get your information from.

Let us all thank a previous government for privatising water companies who now make a profit from supplying people with an essential product. Can we switch supplier? No. So the point of privatisation was...?

I work for a water company and see the pressures from all sides; profits for shareholders, increasing population and new housing to service, legal obligations regarding quality and leakage levels, spiralling energy costs...

The water companies are caught in the middle between the consumers and the legislation forced upon them, and their operating costs.

You can't cut your water bill, you can only cut your water usage.

I like to look at it this way: if all the treated water was free of charge, but their was no sewarage (which is *included* in your water bill don't forget) then how much would you be willing to pay, per month, for a company to deal with what you flush down the toilet?

The importance of water conservation depends on where you live. Those in the Sout East, and to a lesser degree the South West particularly on the chalk areas need to be more concerned; but many other parts are virtually up to their arm pits in it. Did you know that under current legislation you can take up to a maximum of 20cu.m of ground water a day - that's 20000 ltrs without requiring a licence and free of charge appart from the cost is finding it; drawing it off and possibly treating it; the cost of which could be no more than installing solar panels. If you live in a flood plane for example as quite a lot seem to do; chances are there is water not far below your feet; - small scale treatment is relatively cheap these days and the payback in quality alone is worthwhile; but if you can draw in excess of 80 ltrs a minute you can then begin to utilise the goethermal advantages of heating by open looped ground water source heat-pump which is far more effecient than the close looped ground source equivelent. But one word of advice. You would need expert and right now there are experts and experts out there (if you know what I mean)

hello notoverthehill...yes you,re right...there was/is a charge for conserving your own water...as the water company states or should i say demands..it is their water..strange innit...the waterboards own the rainfall and the americans own the moon. to which they will gladly try and sell you a piece of lol...however back to the metering part, I worked for Kent Meters Ltd in Luton for a number of years working on both home market and exports..back in the day of the mid 80,s I remember the Isle of Wight being guinea pigs to the metering system and they were not happy bunnies, as all of you in some form have mentioned your ways of saving or conserving water even the Isle of Wight weighted down their toilet flushing system with bricks, in those days I used to say to friends and colleagues, whatever you do in life DO NOT get a water meter...I was then on the rateable usage..these days..I say...You cant beat a water meter, i was paying back in 1995-99 about £30 per month for 10 months..I moved property to a 3 bed detached and already a water meter was in place..and yes...dear old Kent Meters made it...i,ve been on this meter since moving here and my bill per month hasn't moved from £30 a month..I run a pond quite a large one that has a habit in the winter of draining itself leaving my poor old koi flapping around and I must say this pond holds some gallons, yet i moan at the old man for filling up a sink to dip his head in,( i,d like to drown him) joke...IMHO my advice now would be..get a water meter, its true to say...you are more conscious of your consumption but hey...it works out so much cheaper and if the waterboards are thinking of hiking rateable usage customers bills by 40% then it may warrant a good talk with your head or your partner/spouse...

Hi Natouille, ment no malice to the French quite the opposite I am envious of the way the French stick together on most economic matters. If the UK did this over Bank of England rates, gas, electricity,petrol ,& mad water rate system we would all be better off. Quite agree how can something with no competition be privatised but we will all just keep on paying because thats what we have to do.......ho hum

How can you wash up under running water? what happens to the washing up liquid, or do people that do this not use any. I always use a bowlful of water; and, for that matter, a basin of water to shave in.
Oh and, magicblonde, having just read your comment, surely there is only one liquid which should be diluted with whisky, and that is green ginger wine - Crabbies, of course!