‘Getting a water meter cut my bill in half'

Times

18-07-2025

Soaring water bills led more than 100,000 homeowners to request water meters in the first four months of the year. Some suppliers said they had two or three times as many applications as they had in the first few months of 2024.
Water bills are based on an archaic system that hasn't been updated since 1990 and many customers find that switching to a meter can cut their costs in half.
United Utilities, which has 8 million customers across the North West of England, said there had been 44,640 applications for water meters between January and April, up from 23,176 last year. Wessex Water, which has 2.9 million customers across the South West, said it has had 8,000 applications since sending out annual bills in February — double the number it had between February and July last year.
The Consumer Council for Water, a watchdog, said that three other big suppliers had almost 75,000 meter applications between them from January to April, up from about 42,000 last year.
The council has a calculator on its website that allows you to work out if a water meter will save you money — 312,630 used it between February and June, up from 111,763 over the same months last year.
Tim Clarke from the Consumer Council for Water said: 'Suppliers appear to have had unprecedented interest in water meters as customers look for ways to combat the largest increase in bills since privatisation.'
Average annual water and sewage bills went up 26 per cent in April to £603 — the biggest rise since 1989, according to Water UK, a trade association.
And bills are set to keep on rising for the next five years after the heavily indebted water companies struck a deal with the water regulator, Ofwat, to fund infrastructure improvements.
There is unlikely to be any respite even after that. Water companies are under huge pressure from politicians and campaign groups to cut down on sewage leaks that have led to pollution of rivers and seas. The Environment Agency said there were a record 2,801 pollution incidents caused by water companies in England last year, including 75 which posed 'serious or persistent' harm to fisheries, drinking water and human health. This was a 60 per cent rise on the 2,174 in 2023.
With a water meter, you pay for the water you use, and some fixed charges for sewage and infrastructure. If you don't have a water meter, your bills are usually, and rather bizarrely, based on your home's rateable value — an estimation made some time between 1967 and 1990 of how much it could be rented out for. Once you have a meter, your bills are based on your previous year's usage. If you think you have been overcharged, you can challenge your direct debit payments. As with energy bills, you should not need to always be in credit because your usage can vary throughout the year.
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Households with a meter use about 29 per cent less water than those without one on average, according to Discover Water, an information site run by industry bodies such as Water UK and Ofwat. This is probably because those who choose a meter use less water in the first place and are then more conscious of their usage. The general rule of thumb is that you will save money having a water meter installed if there are more bedrooms in your home than people.
The Consumer Council for Water said that those whose bills were lower after getting a meter saved an average of £150 a year.
If your home is suitable, it costs nothing to get a water meter and your supplier has to fit it within 90 days. You usually have the right to switch back to unmetered bills within two years, but this varies between suppliers.
Victoria Larkou hadn't given much thought to getting a water meter until her supplier, Affinity Water, suggested it, but 18 months after switching her bills have halved.
Larkou, 50, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, had a meter put in to her four-bedroom house where she lives with her husband Athos, 47, and daughter Tillie, 21 in 2023.
'We probably wouldn't have done it of our own volition,' said Larkou, a saleswoman for an anaesthetic company. 'Maybe it's through being too lazy, but it's the sort of thing you put off because you think it will be a pain.'
Before the meter was installed they paid £58 a month, £696 a year — £248 more than the average bill in 2023-24. In 2024-25, their first full billing year with a meter, they paid £29 a month — saving £348 a year. They used 278 litres a day, 6.4 per cent below the 297-litre average for similar households, according to Affinity.
'I'm not going to be going on holiday with the savings, but it's the sort of thing that you think was definitely worth doing,' Larkou said.
The share of households with a water meter in England and Wales went from 58.4 per cent in the 2020-21 financial year to 62.7 per cent in 2023-24, according to the Consumer Council for Water. Most of those households without a meter are likely to be on the rateable value system.
If you cannot have a meter fitted, because you live in a block of flats with a shared water supply, for example, you can ask to be moved off the rateable value system to an assessed volume charge. This is where your fixed bill is based on how many people live in your household and how big it is.
In the past, water companies have pushed their customers to have meters installed because they say they can help to detect leaks and encourage lower usage. If you are a high water user, you probably shouldn't get a meter.
Tom MacInnes from the charity Citizens Advice said: 'Switching to a water meter can be a great way for people to only pay for what they use, but it isn't always a practical or cheaper option. While water meters can help some to save money, they are not a silver bullet and we know many people will find it hard to afford their bills regardless.'